{"id":12270,"date":"2019-08-12T15:06:52","date_gmt":"2019-08-12T15:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/zimbabwe\/?p=12270"},"modified":"2019-08-12T15:06:52","modified_gmt":"2019-08-12T15:06:52","slug":"gwanda-south-communities-feel-betrayed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/gwanda-south-communities-feel-betrayed","title":{"rendered":"Gwanda South communities feel betrayed"},"content":{"rendered":"

GWANDA South constituency is crying out loud for development.<\/span><\/p>\n

Having provided a passage for thousands of former freedom fighters departing to Botswana, en-route to Zambia and Mozambique for military training, the communities feel they deserve developmental recognition.<\/p>\n

The constituency, about 100 kilometres south of Gwanda town, in 1977 grabbed international attention when over 400 pupils were recruited and trooped en masse to Botswana to join the liberation struggle.<\/p>\n

The group also included teachers, general staff and nurses from the nearby Manama Mission Hospital.<\/p>\n

That landmark event, of which Foreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo is now known to have been part of student recruits, positively turned the view of the world towards Zimbabweans\u2019 quest for emancipation.<\/p>\n

It also shocked the settler forces as more blacks started joining the struggle for independence in droves.<\/p>\n

Sadly, decades later, it remains the constituency\u2019s only claim to having helped liberate the country from colonial rule.<\/p>\n

As the country celebrates Heroes and Defence Forces days this week, the villagers want their lives improved.
\nIn a message to Southern Eye at the weekend, one of the 36 154 members of the constituency appealed to this paper to highlight their plight.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe, President Emmerson Mnangagwa will hear us through you. We have nothing to show for our faith in the ruling party and visits by our representative in Parliament Abednico Ncube are few and far apart.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am a villager from Buvuma village in Gwanda South constituency. As a journalist, I hope you might help us highlight the challenges we are facing as a community in terms of development. The whole constituency has not seen any meaningful socio-economic transformation since the new dispensation, let alone independence,\u201d texted the villager requesting to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are asking for attention and can the President whip our representative to think of home? He has not been here in a long time, despite him being resident minister of the province,\u201d the villager said.<\/p>\n

Infrastructure, he said, as a driver of development is non-existent.<\/p>\n

Roads are in a terrible state and inadequate water points haunt villagers, who are also facing drought. Health facilities are inadequate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mission-run Manama Hospital is all we have to date and we have inadequate police presence,\u201d added the villager whose area is fraught with numerous cattle theft cases, most unsolved.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no ambulance and our schools have low pass rates due to non-availability of electricity, resulting in extremely high staff turnover. Computers donated by former President Robert Mugabe are gathering dust.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbove all, mobile phone and radio network connectivity is a nightmare, as there is no single base station, save for one at Manama Mission facilitated by the church elders. Phone communication in the area is horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Appeals to authorities have fallen on deaf ears and sadly people are now accepting the lack of development as normal, as they are not in touch with developments around the country.<\/p>\n

But, Ncube was rude when comment was sought from him.<\/p>\n

\u201cLina lithanda ukubhala amanga (you love writing lies). Should I cut off my phone?\u201d he said before switching off his mobile phone.<\/p>\n

Poor radio signals have seen constituents lagging behind current affairs.<\/p>\n

Child marriages are a thorn in the flesh and rife in an area where rights of children and women are ignored due to lack of exposure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in a fix despite that the community is willing to provide labour,\u201d the villager said.<\/p>\n

But that does not mean Gwanda South, with seven political wards has no potential.<\/p>\n

Thirty percent of the population of the constituency, which borders Botswana in the South is home to some of the country\u2019s finest beef herds, with each of the 7 951 households having the potential to own at least five cattle, according to the Zimbabwe Poverty Atlas 2015, which recorded 80,2% poverty levels in the area.<\/p>\n

Poor rainfall patterns have seen the bulk of the people begging for food relief from a variety of agencies.<\/p>\n

Those in close proximity to service centres and irrigation schemes have better livelihoods.<\/p>\n

There are more women than men in all the wards and considering their willingness to work, self-help schemes are possible, but the leadership appears devoid of initiatives and ideas.<\/p>\n

Gwanda South has 28 670 beasts belonging to 30% of the population as at 2015. Farmers are also victim to widespread cattle thefts.<\/p>\n

The constituency is home to what is perhaps the country\u2019s most sophisticated cattle heist scheme, whose epicentre at Tshanyaugwe thrives courtesy of the absence of adequate law enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe appeal to the government to attend to our needs, facilitate the growth of our business centres by providing electricity service and build water bodies in our area,\u201d another villager who only identified himself as Nyathi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have no banks and if our road to the new border post at Mulambapere was surfaced it would increase movement in our constituency and spur development,\u201d said a traditional leader in the area, preferring to remain unnamed for fear of being victimised for speaking to the private Press.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are appealing for food relief for our livestock and us,\u201d added the traditional leader, whose area has attracted a number of charity organisations probably due to food insecurity and the HIV and Aids pandemic.<\/p>\n

Gwanda South constituency has 29 primary schools, with a total enrolment of 10 532 pupils, of which 5 316 are male representing 50,5% and the average teacher\/pupil ratio ranges around 44:1 against a desired 28:1.<\/p>\n

The primary schools feed nine inferior government-owned secondary schools and one private \u2014 the famous Manama.
\n\u201cWe want the government to improve our schools so that we can attract qualified teachers to improve our children\u2019s education,\u201d Nyathi said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GWANDA South constituency is crying out loud for development. Having provided a passage for thousands of former freedom fighters departing to Botswana, en-route to Zambia and Mozambique for military training, the communities feel they deserve developmental recognition. The constituency, about 100 kilometres south of Gwanda town, in 1977 grabbed international attention when over 400 pupils […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":8112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[342,591,606,150],"class_list":{"0":"post-12270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-policy","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-gwanda","11":"tag-hiv","12":"tag-ncube"},"yoast_head":"\nGwanda South communities feel betrayed - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/gwanda-south-communities-feel-betrayed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gwanda South communities feel betrayed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"GWANDA South constituency is crying out loud for development. Having provided a passage for thousands of former freedom fighters departing to Botswana, en-route to Zambia and Mozambique for military training, the communities feel they deserve developmental recognition. 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