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Mthabisi Tshuma in Bhilingoma, Bulilima
BULILIMA constituency Senator and Zanu-PF Politburo member responsible for Production and Labour, Cde Richard Ndlovu has urged Zimbabweans to safeguard the fruits of Independence by bolstering development across communities nationwide.
Speaking at the ground-breaking and fundraising ceremony for Bhilingoma Primary School in Bulilima district on Saturday, Senator Ndlovu commended the initiative’s success, which included pledges exceeding 70 bags of cement, food sales surpassing R3 500, community contributions over R2 000 and donations exceeding R2 000 from dignitaries.
“Today is a big day where we have done the ground-breaking of Bhilingoma Primary School. This nation came after a struggle where a lot of people sacrificed their lives to ensure we are free. This nation is now free and everyone has a plan on what they want to do with their lives and as for you Bhilingoma people, you decided that you want to build a school,” said Cde Ndlovu.
He said the community should persevere and remain committed to achieving the successful completion of the school building project.
“It is not an easy task to build a school. I am from an area called Ntunungwe and our children were doing their secondary school at Bezu and many of them failed to finish Form 4 after the girls fell pregnant. Young boys would block them on the way as they took advantage of their hunger where they will wake up at 4am to go to school and come back home at 7pm.
“That is why we saw it fit to build Ntunungwe Secondary School. It is not an easy task to build a school. Some will not make it to the end, you will start to hate each other when you start working. You have given yourself a tough job thus work extremely hard. This is for the future generation,” said Cde Ndlovu.
Cde Dingumuzi Phuti, the Deputy Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services, and Zanu-PF Central Committee member, said President Mnangagwa’s philosophy, Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabaninilo, should serve as a living testament to the development of Bhilingoma Village and Bulilima district as a whole.
“Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabaninilo and this means this school in Bhilingoma is owned by their children and their parents. The owners of Bulilima are the children, parents and the workers in the district, the children of Bulilima are the leaders who work in the area thus as a whole we are the citizens of Bulilima who should see the growth of our district.
“The chairperson of the project highlighted that the project started before 2018 and we are here for the ground-breaking and fundraising part. I thank God that the event has become a success and I would like to thank every involved stakeholder from the start for pushing to ensure that Bulilima will grow and become a model looked upon by some areas. Bhilingoma will be a big school because of the catchment area thus let’s push to help cut the distances travelled by our children,” said Cde Phuti, who is also Bulilima legislator.
Chief Manguba said education has become a key component in societies and urged the community to actively support the success of the construction.
“Nowadays you do not become anything viable without going to school. Our guest of honour Senator Ndlovu learnt at Matjinge and it was built by our elders who had never attended school but they did their best to make sure their children learn.
“As Bhilingoma let’s try our best to make sure that we make our children educated. Senator Ndlovu highlighted that our district has no natural resources like coal but it is said it passes from Botswana through Manguba to Hwange but we don’t have our children who can research on that. Let’s help educate them,” said Chief Manguba.
Mr Billiat Mlauzi, the CEO of Bulilima, pledged that the council will allocate devolution funds for the construction of the school.
“As the council we have a mandate of building schools with Government policy saying schools should not be more than 5 kilometres thus we will work with stakeholders and anyone who wants to develop our area to come and help build this school.
“The job has started and everyone has a role to play with us, as council we will help in the technical guidance throughout the project where we will come and inspect the project. We will source funding from our partners and also through devolution funds,” he said.
Mrs Lian Dube, the Bulilima district schools inspector, encouraged parents to ensure their children regularly attend school.
The event was attended by Zimbabwe Defence Industries Deputy General Manager Retired Brigadier General Canisius Moyo, Zanu-PF Veterans League national political commissar Cde Ntombiyakhe Ndlovu, Chief Kandana, Headman Myengwa, local traditional leadership, some diasporans and the local community. — @mthabisi_mthire
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