POTRAZ donate to Makoni villagers

Eltina Chagonda

VULNERABLE communities in Makoni District, Manicaland, recently got food hampers, blankets, mosquito nets and boreholes from the Postal & Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ).

Director General of POTRAZ, Gift Machengete, said the gesture was part of their Corporate Social Responsibility programme.

“We serve the communities by ensuring they have Internet access through the rollout of base stations, by ensuring that they have Internet access at Community Information Centres, ensuring children have Internet access and computers in schools.

“We serve the communities by ensuring Government institutions, such as health care centres and police stations, have Internet access and ICT gadgets.

While all this is fundamental, and while it is our core mandate, we also have an obligation to ensure that those communities we serve with ICT infrastructure are well catered for, in terms of their wellbeing.

“This comes from the realisation that, as a good corporate citizen, we should always assist the less privileged of society in any small way possible as we assist the Government in the fight against hunger, poverty and many other social constraints affecting communities in Zimbabwe.

 “The most crucial element for human wellbeing is water.”

He added:

“Water is life, access  to clean and reliable water is, indeed, the epitome of life itself as it breeds sustainable domestic life and facilitates sustainable income-generating projects.

“Be it for domestic use that is drinking, cooking, bathing or water for agricultural purposes, your gardening, poultry and piggery project,  what we know is without water, life would be unbearable.

 “To create a wholesome community, a flourishing and sustainable community, POTRAZ has decided not only to roll out ICT-related projects but human sustainability projects such as the borehole drilling project in communities as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility programme.

“It is against this background that we have gathered here today to witness the commissioning of three (3) solar-powered boreholes at Dewedzo, Jecha and here at Tsanzaguru.

 “Giving  back to the community is part of our DNA. 

“Every year, we set aside a budget towards programmes that help bring sustainable development, especially in underdeveloped communities.”