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Samuel Kadungure
Senior Reporter
GOVERNMENT will continue improving the quality of life for the rural population through infrastructure development, employment creation and the provision of clean water, electricity, modern health and education facilities, Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga has said.
VP Chiwenga said this while addressing thousands of Zanu PF supporters at Mutasa Business Centre in Buhera West Constituency last Friday.
Zanu PF parliamentary candidate for Buhera West Constituency, Cde Tafadzwa Mugwadi, will battle it out with Mr Herbert Mangwanya of Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) and Mr Komborero Tsvangirai of MDC-T on August 23.
Cde Mugwadi has since joined forces with his main competitor in the recent primary elections, Cde Maxwell Chikwangwani, and outgoing MP, Cde Saul Nzuma.
VP Chiwenga implored the masses to overwhelmingly vote for President Mnangagwa and all party parliamentary and council candidates to ensure a continuation of the current developmental trajectory.
He said Government was refurbishing urban and rural roads through the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP 2) after the opposition-run councils failed to deliver.
The tarring of the 131km Murambinda-Birchenough Road, which has been a nightmare for motorists over the years, has started with the contractor working on the first five kilometres off Birchenough Bridge.
The upgrade which began at the end of March is part of Government’s initiative to rehabilitate roads countrywide.
“The Murambinda-Birchnough Road has been giving you nightmares and we have started tarring it and we will ensure its completion. The Second Republic is determined to complete the road.
“We need good roads, modern schools and hospitals as well as access to clean water to develop and industrialise our rural areas. We will also attend to all the feeder roads,” he said.
VP Chiwenga also revealed that there are plans to establish a modern district hospital in Buhera.
“We need a bigger and modern district hospital, and plans are at an advanced stage to establish it in Buhera. In the meantime we are equipping and capacitating Murambinda Mission Hospital.
“We have given them an ambulance and some machines as well as a 40KV solar plant to cushion it from power cuts. We have also introduced a nurse training school at Murambinda to cater for brilliant children from this district,” said VP Chiwenga, who is also Health and Child Care Minister.
Dr Chiwenga said the Presidential Borehole Scheme will ameliorate water challenges in rural areas.
He said under the programme, the boreholes will be equipped with solar.
“We have 2 000 villages in Manicaland, and every village will get a solar powered borehole.
“Communities around Ruti and Marowanyati Dams will also have bigger irrigation schemes. Over the last five years, you have seen what the Second Republic has done, we are now food secure due to Government’s initiatives.
“There are some areas like Buhera that did not harvest enough, and we will eradicate hunger in those drier areas through irrigation schemes,” he said.
VP Chiwenga also said Government has availed funds to revamp Dorowa Minerals Plant in Buhera in a strategic move that seeks to boost basal fertiliser production for both local and export markets.
The phosphate plant at Dorowa was established in 1965 and the last refurbishment was done in 1973.
The refurbishment project has been staggered into three phases — with the first one demanding an injection of US$6m.
Dr Chiwenga said the ultimate goal is to upgrade the facility into an all-in-on fertiliser plant, which fits perfectly into the Second Republic’s devolution thrust — where resources in a particular region must be value-added in situ to boost the locality’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Currently, phosphate produced at Dorowa is processed into basal fertiliser at Zimphos in Harare, thereby helping to boost the capital city’s GDP.
VP Chiwenga also warned the revolutionary party against complacency built on the notion of invincibility in some of the province’s constituencies.
He said Manicaland has a rich revolutionary history dating back to the days of the liberation struggle since the province was the main corridor for gallant sons and daughters who skipped the country for military training in Mozambique.
The province has been voting for the ruling Zanu PF and its candidates since independence.
“Zanu PF, which brought independence to this country, deserves another five-year mandate. We should defend our independence on August 23 and shame our colonisers.
“We need to unite as Zanu PF members and go and vote for Zanu PF candidates led by President Mnangagwa.
“We must hold these elections in peace. We need unity, love and tolerance. We can win these elections without any violence,” he said.
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