Rutenga: Thirsty and hungry

opportunities.
This can be said of Rutenga Growth Point in Mwenezi District in Masvingo.
Rutenga is supposed to be the developmental hub of the district but by many accounts it is a thirsty, hungry and underdeveloped area.
While the centre remains largely unassuming, a huge chunk of business literally passes by — from the Masvingo-Beitbridge Highway and by rail as the potential of Rutenga-Sango Border Post route lies untapped.
Man and nature have connived to limit Rutenga’s reach for the sky.
Mwenezi District Administrator Stanley Chamisa is acutely aware of this fact.
He told The Herald that as his area falls into Ecological Region Five, droughts are a nagging problem as crops fail each year, including the current one, with people now having to rely on the Government’s Grain Loan Scheme.
But man has decided to self-destruct.
“There are no big irrigation schemes to utilise Manyuchi Dam and the water is used at Mwenezana and Tongaat sugar estates,” he regretted.
He revealed that Mwenezi was underutilising the 13 percent of water allocated to it, even allowing it to flow to Gonarezhou National Park to nourish animals of the wild.
A common thread of failure and neglect runs through irrigation projects that have been mooted in the district of Mwenezi.
According to Chamisa, 239 hectares of irrigated land is required to feed the district.
Chizumba Irrigation Scheme in Ward 7 has not kicked off several years after being initiated as it does not have canals and night storage dams.
It can cultivate 20 hectares of crop, and feed 400 people.
There has been no funding for the 200ha Lapache scheme near Mwenezana since its plans were drawn and land cleared. The same goes for the 400ha Pikinini-Jamanda scheme near Manyuchi Dam, which Chamisa says provides the easiest catch as there is no need for electricity since water can be siphoned from the dam.
No work has been done since the surveys and plans of 1998. There are several other small irrigation schemes which are, however, not performing well.
This adds to the sad tale of Masvingo province which is suffers the ravages of drought almost every year despite having the biggest concentration of dams in Zimbabwe.
On the other hand, no significant progress has been made to harness the teeming wildlife resources in the province, Mwenezi included.
Chamisa rues the missed opportunities.
“People are tired of begging,” he said.
“Mwenezi River is a green belt from Manyuchi Dam but nothing is materialising. Money is the biggest problem but we require at least 200ha under irrigation.”
The famished people of Mwenezi are also tired of another thing.
Grain imports from South Africa pass through their area but they have to buy or receive grain allocations from Harare, at higher prices.
“Government should look into providing allocations to arid areas like Mwenezi as a matter of preference,” said Chamisa.
Chamisa reckons that one other thing that has stalled progress and development in Mwenezi is that of the absence of a central Government complex to make co-ordination easy. When one looks at the district, a feeling of the proverbial divided town is inevitable.
Rutenga has Registry, CMED, GMB, Ministry of Transport,Veterinary Services, Public Works and the Forestry Commission.
Seventy-five kilometres off, at Neshuro, there are ministries and Government departments such as Zimstat, Education, Youth, Women Affairs and Health.
From Chamisa’s offices, it takes a drive of about 70 kilometres to reach the nearest rural areas while visits to chiefs such as Sovelele in the northwest and Mateke in the southeast demand journeys of 200km and 130km, respectively.
“There is need for centralisation to make co-ordination easy,” said Chamisa.
Chamisa is also unhappy with the way in which a big 2009 bio-energy project has been halted by 39 families who could be relocated elsewhere but have turned the matter political.
“We are technocrats and we want things to move. If we had our way those people could have been moved to pave way for the project,” he stated.
Since he does not have the sway, things could remain as they are. “The problem that we have is that major businesses in Mwenezi like the Nuanetsi Ranch and the Zimbabwe Bio-Energy have not tapped into the developmental plan of the centre,” is the diagnosis of Mwenezi legislator Kudakwashe Bhasikiti.
“They decide to build compounds for their workers within their premises rather than at the centre and develop it,” he explains.
That is but one aspect of the developmental challenges in Mwenezi as the limited houses were constructed by the National Railways of Zimbabwe and Zesa Holdings, which also happen to be the biggest formal employers, albeit with a small number, along with CMED (Pvt) Ltd.
CMED has also the biggest service plant here, where there is only one other privately owned garage.
Housing projects are now being initiated by co-operatives and these are moving at a slow pace.
Councillor Canaan Moyo believes the keys to unlock development in his area are “serious investors”.
“We have enough land but there are no serious investors,” Moyo told The Herald.
“We are still developing — we can have hotels and garages here,” he said.
The issue of accommodation is a particular concern here with the whole centre having a single provider whose service come by way of a couple of dingy rooms at the back of a noisy bar.
A lot of trucks use the centre as a resting and overnight place but the drivers resort to sleeping in their vehicles because there are no rooms available.
The councillor pointed out the need to have constant water and electricity supplies.
He also called on big companies to provide employment saying that for development to come to this place there should also be a cotton ginnery since Mwenezi is a cotton-producing area.
Meanwhile, life goes on slowly at Rutenga with donkey-pulled carts populating the business centre more than cars. Selling watermelons — for US$0,50 each — a major business activity here completes the backward picture of Rutenga.
The sooner someone realises how to add value to these fleshy and watery endowments of a dry clime, the better.