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Africa Moyo recently in HWANGE
President Mnangagwa recently directed that a teacher training college be set up in Matabeleland North Province, not only as part of his infrastructure development drive, but also to cut the distance travelled by pupils in search for tertiary education.
That dream is now set to become a reality as the Hwange Local Board has already availed land for the project.
And realising that large parts of Matabeleland North are driven by tourism, there are also plans to set up a School of Hospitality in Hwange.
The land set aside for both the teacher training school and the college of hospitality measures nearly 27 hectares.
Both the teacher training college and the school of hospitality would be “firsts” in the province.
What would be a “second,” is the setting up of a university.
The Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU), a school with walls with thousands of students scattered across the country, has also requested land to construct a campus in Hwange.
Hwange Local Board Town Secretary Mr Ndumiso Mdlalose said the land will be provided, as they seek to position the town as a nerve centre for development.
Already, Hwange Local Board has filed its papers seeking municipality status, a development that they expect to help them attract serious investors.
Not many high value investors are keen to commit funds in an area run by a Local Board.
Mr Mdlalose said they were pressing ahead with the developmental thrust introduced by President Mnangagwa.
“The first teachers’ college is coming up here in Hwange. In line with what the President said that there should be such a college in Hwange, we have now granted land, for free, to the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education for the construction of the college,” said Mr Mdlalose.
“Activity has already begun, as materials for the construction have already been brought to the site. It is a huge piece of land of up to 10 hectares that we gave them because they also want to construct hostels.
“In respect of tertiary education, we have also availed land for the construction of a school of hospitality. Look, we have the hotel industry in the province, right up to Victoria Falls, but we do not have a college of hospitality. That college will also be a first in the province.”
The Hwange Local Board has set in motion plans to deliver massive infrastructure development in tandem with National Development Strategy 1 and Vision 2030 of an empowered upper middle income society.
Apart from the planned construction of tertiary education institutions, nearly 500 houses are under construction, as it seeks to convince the Government to upgrade its status to that of a municipality.
Said Mr Mdlalose: “We have many projects that we are planning and those that are ongoing in Hwange. The biggest project at the moment is the ZPC (Zimbabwe Power Company) one where they are building an entire suburb with almost 500 houses.
“We have already allocated them the land and construction has started. For the managers, they will be building about 80 houses, and we have also allocated them the land. We are working closely with them, supplying raw materials that we can such as gravel and quarry.
“We have another project involving 2 000 stands for low cost houses. We initially worked with the Infrastructure Development Bank (IDBZ) and did part of the job but we handed over the project to the Ministry of National Housing. It was supposed to be self-financing but some of the beneficiaries defaulted on monthly payments of about US$50 and we brought in the IDBZ.”
Mr Mdlalose said their initial plan was to have a modern suburb, complete with solar lighting for roads.
Most stands have been taken up by potential homeowners, and the project, which started in 2014, is at servicing stage.
It was moot at the realisation that most people in the mining town were paying monthly rentals of US$50 per room, and it was felt that the people could actually contribute US$50 towards a stand, which they will later.
Another key housing project in Hwange is the one in which the Local Board has allocated land to FBC Bank for the construction of houses.
Under the project, 764 stands have been issued.
The project, which is in line with the Government’s desire to conserve space through construction of high rise buildings, will have flats.
The contractor is already on the ground.
Hwange Local Board, under a private-public-partnership with a local mining company, South Mining, is constructing a massive community library in Empumalanga suburb for the benefit of all people of Hwange.
When The Herald visited the construction site on Tuesday, the builders were busy with various activities including flooring and plastering.
Construction is almost done, with door frames already fitted and roofing done.
On completion, it would be the only library in Hwange, as some that had been constructed by Hwange Colliery Company Limited have been converted for other uses including as restaurants.
With all these and other projects ongoing, Mr Mdlalose believes it was time the Government reviewed their status as a Local Board, and granted them municipality status.
He said they meet most of the requirements, including hosting the provincial offices of the police, Office of the President and Cabinet, the Zimbabwe National Army, Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services and recently the opening of the Central Registry.
“We feel we qualify to be a municipality. We have a mix of industries here including mining, commercial, services, tourism and other support industries. We have water (although it is still controlled by Zinwa and they want it back) and electricity,” said Mr Mdlalose.
He added that they also have 15 local authority wards, which are way more than what some towns have.
“So we are waiting for a status upgrade and we believe we can get it this year.
“If we were to become a municipality, it would mean better investment opportunities and we can attract serious investors. We also believe we have the requisite infrastructure consistent with a municipality,” he said.
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