Chronicle Editor
Leonard Ncube, [email protected]
CIVIL servants, particularly teachers under the Teacher4ED banner have formed the Zimbabwe Economic Development Initiative (ZEDI) which seeks to mobilise resources to acquire housing stands for educators.
Formed in February this year, ZEDI targets 5 000 members nationally, mobilised from 500 members per province to benefit from housing stands to afford teachers decent accommodation for their families.
In an interview recently, ZEDI national chairman Mr Weston Chigumira who is school head for St James Primary in Manicaland said ZEDI was established after realisation that most teachers have no decent accommodation for their families when they retire from the profession.
“ZEDI was born from the welfare side of Teachers4ED after we discovered that issues of accommodation were very critical and that for someone to be empowered they should have decent housing. Many civil servants particularly teachers stay in school premises and when they retire they have no decent accommodation.
“So we registered ZEDI under the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in February 2024. We are only into housing although we have other empowerment programmes which are lined up but at the moment we have started with housing.
“We are recruiting members and we have a threshold for 5 000 members nationally with each province set to reach 500 members. We are benching on the strength of members and with 5 000 members we can put our resources together,” said Mr Chigumira, the former Teachers for ED Transport and Welfare Officer.
ZEDI National Treasurer Me Elias Maposa said membership is growing.
“ZEDI is a national initiative targeting civil servants. One has to be a civil servant and pay an administration fee of US$20 to become a member. They also have to buy a minimum of 100 shares at US$1 per share.
“Uptake of this programme is encouraging because people are paying in their numbers. We are now at not less than 1 000 members and phase 1 is targeting 5 000 members so that it can be fully implemented. We are working with local authorities and currently, we have stands in Rushina and Chimanimani and we are earmarking titled land which we are going to buy,” he said.
ZEDI is working with local authorities.
One of the beneficiaries, Mr William Mandishara, head of Pungwe Primary School in Mahsonaland Central said he was proud to be an owner of a housing stand in Rushinga from ZEDI.
“I joined Teachers4ED and under that, I then joined ZEDI. There were stands at Rushinga Rural District Council and I am one of the beneficiaries. I feel proud, being a beneficiary means we now trust ZEDI
-@ncubeleon
Online Reporter