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Gutu RDC explores Woodlands Dam’s tourism, hospitality potential

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Gutu RDC explores Woodlands Dam’s tourism, hospitality potential


TellZim Reporter
Gutu Rural District Council (RDC) is looking
for investment partners with capacity to help implement various
income-generating project plans that include the harnessing of Woodlands Dam’s
potential to be a recreational and tourism hub.
The plan entails constructing a
state-of-the-art lodge, a conference centre and a fisheries venture at the
scenic Woodlands Dam.
If completed, the projects will have enormous
economic spin-offs for the district and will provide a serene place for
leisure-hunters.
The dam will be a convivial place of recreational
facilities hosting such events as weddings, birthday parties and other dam-side
events.
The Woodlands Dam, which is located in the Mushaviri
area in Ward 29, will be a hive of activity and will provide the local
authority with more revenue to improve service delivery.
A 100 hectare piece of land has since been set
aside for the project which is likely going to start early next year.
Gutu RDC Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Alexander Mtembwa said once commenced, the project will create employment for
many people in line with the district’s thrust to fight poverty through
bankable, self-sustaining projects.
Mutembwa said in due course, Gutu RDC will be
inviting private players to join them in executing the projects.
“Once the plan is complete, we will be
able to invite private players to partner with us in this venture under the
Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement. We are looking at employing a
number of people as well as attracting many tourists to our district which has
vast tourism potential,” said Mutembwa.

Lack of progress at Tugwi-Mukosi annoys Chadzamira

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Lack of progress at Tugwi-Mukosi annoys Chadzamira

Beatific Gumbwanda
CHIREDZI – The Minister of State
for Masvingo Provincial Affairs, Ezra Chadzamira has spoken strongly against
delays in the completion of the Tugwi-Mukosi development masterplan, saying the
province will go ahead and make use of the water body regardless.
Addressing Zanu PF supporters celebrating
the party’s election victory at Chishamiso Stadium, Hippo Valley, recently,
Chadzamira urged economic players to ignore the masterplan, saying those
designing it had unnecessarily delayed finishing the job.
 “We agreed with the Minister of Lands,
Agriculture and Rural Resettlement, Retired Air Marshal Perence Shiri that some
sectors must be operationalised before the master plan is out. The province is
now ready to reduce poverty, unemployment and inequality and this is envisaged
through the ability to utilise Tugwi Mukosi Dam.
“We will not continue waiting for
the master plan which has stalled development in the province. Tugwi-Mukosi Dam
was officially commissioned in May 2017 and they continue giving reference to
the master plan which they are not completing,” said Chadzamira.
Chadzamira said some developments
at the dam do not even require a master plan.
“The master plan will not stop us
from kick-starting various projects and programmes that will benefit the
people. Does building a hotel on the island require a master plan? The one whom
we are going to give the hotel stand will bring his own master plan. We don’t
need a master plan to kick-start fishing and to generate electricity,”
Chadzamira said.
He said those undertaking the
master plan had delayed the province’s development targets that include plans
to put over 25 000 hectares of land under irrigation.
It is understood the plan is being drafted
by the officials from such ministries as Environment, Water and Climate; Local
Government, Public Works and National Housing; and the Office of the President
and Cabinet.

Chivi Primary School head dies in car crash

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Chivi Primary School head dies in car crash

                                                          The accident scene

…wife survives horror

TellZim Reporter

MASVINGO – Badza Primary School head Edmore Mbizvo died around
midmorning today, December 20, after the Nissan Serena he was driving developed mechanical
faults at the 35km peg just after Mashava along the Bulawayo-Masvingo highway.
He was 48.
Masvingo provincial police
spokesperson Inspector Charity Mazula confirmed the tragic incident and called
for greater caution on the roads.
“We received a report of the car
crash and our thoughts are with the deceased’s family. We urge all motorists to be
more careful on the roads, to avoid speeding and to ensure that their cars are
in good condition before travelling,” said Mazula.
Six passengers in the vehicle,
including Mbizvo’s wife, survived the crash and were admitted at Masvingo
Provincial Hospital but their conditions were reported to be stable.
After developing the problems
while in motion, the vehicle veered off the road to the left side, hit a bridge
pillar and overturned before landing on its right side, killing Mbizvo on the
spot.
He was from Badza village, Headman Watungwa under Chief Madamombe in Chivi district.
One of the survivors, Gibson Bako
told TellZim News after being discharged from hospital that three of the
survivors, himself included, are teachers at the same school.
“We were coming to Masvingo to do
some banking and the car suddenly started to behave weirdly before overturning.
It was a very bad experience,” said Bako.

Shabani Primary School head Mdumo calls it a day

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Shabani Primary School head Mdumo calls it a day

Exsto Makunzva

ZVISHAVANE – Shabani Primary School head, Joy Mdumo has called it a
day as she has reached the retirement age of 65.
Mdumo announced her retirement on
November 30 when Shabani Primary School held its annual speech and prize giving
day and a hand over ceremony of the school bus which was bought last year.
Speaking at the function, Mdumo
said she was happy with her time at the school and was happy to go and rest.
“I am retiring, and I am happy to
that I served this school for the past 13 years. It’s time to pass on the
button to someone else,” said Mdumo.
She started her teaching carrier
way back in 1978 at Siboza Primary School and rose through the ranks to become
deputy head at Shiku and Sasula primary schools in Zvishavane district.
Between 1992 and 1996, she was
transferred to Maphisa Primary School in Sizinda, Bulawayo, where she joined
her husband who was a school head in the same province.
In 1997, she was transferred to
Thomas Rudland where she worked as acting school head for one year. She then
came back to Zvishavane where she got promoted to substantive school head at
Manyarira Primary School under chief Mazvihwa between 1998 and 2005.
She then joined Shabani Primary
School in 2006 where she worked until her retirement on December 11, 2018.
During her tenure at Manyarira
Primary, Mdumo won the Secretary’s Merit Award and repeated the same feat
during her time at Shabani Primary.
Under Mdumo, Shabanie Primary has
always been number one in the district; achieving a hundred percent pass rate
in their grade seven results every year. In the Midlands province, the school
has always been in the top three in terms of pass rate.
She worked well with the School
Development Committee (SDC) and bought the 63-sitter school bus.

Panhimbe Crew to provide free entertainment this festive season

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Panhimbe Crew to provide free entertainment this festive season
Panhimbe Crew

Tiyani Hahlani


Masvingo-based upcoming Afro-Fusion band, Panhimbe Crew has pledged to provide free entertainment at functions this December as part of the band’s efforts to popularize its work.
The band, which has bagged many awards in various competitions recently stole the limelight at the Oliver Mtukudzi and Alick Macheso shows, is slotted to curtain raise Thomas Mapfumo’s Masvingo leg of his nation-wide peace tour concerts scheduled for December 15 at Caravan Park.
Panhimbe Crew founder, Tafara Pande said the band wanted to thank its fans for giving it enormous support in the short period it has been on the scene.
“The community of Masvingo deserves a thank you so for the rest of the festive we are going to provide free entertainment wherever we are called to perform be it at weddings, birthday parties, graduation parties and any other events,” said Pande.
He said the band will be officially unveiled this festive season and an album will be launched possibly next year.
Pande said the band was committed to teaching music-loving youths how to sing and play instruments in order to keep young people busy.
“We are here to help the youth as a way of fighting idleness, crime and drug abuse. Our hands are wide open to embrace any young person and help them with some musical skills,” Pande said.
The 10-member band is expected to ignite the local Mukanya Bira where various local acts are targeting to charm the Chimurenga music legend.
The band appeals to Masvingo community for assistance since it still needs a lot of support to grow.

More Zimsec exam anomalies exposed

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More Zimsec exam anomalies exposed

Brighton Chiseva
MASVINGO – The
Zimbabwe National School Examination Council (Zimsec) could be put under
further scrutiny after revelations that the November 2018 exams from grade
seven right up to ‘A’ level were marred by irregularities.
The
glitches ranged from non-inclusive questions, questions that diverged from the
requirements of the new syllabus to different instructions between the specimen
paper and the real exam papers.
Many
anomalies were noted in both the ‘O’ and ‘A’ level Family and Religious Studies
(FRS) examination papers, prompting the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe
(PTUZ) to raise the matter with the Zimsec board.
In
a letter dated November 01, PTUZ secretary general Raymond Majongwe raises many
issues including lack of coherence between the syllabus and the exams.
“We
write this letter to complain about certain papers that have disadvantaged
leaners in the current examination session. While the new curriculum exposes
the leaners to four religions in the two year course which is commendable, the
FRS 6074 Paper 1, written in November 2018 lacks validity and is not in line
with the syllabus.
“We
believe some of the mistakes that found their way into the paper are either a
symptom of arrogance or incompetence on the part of the officer(s) who are in
charge of setting the items or compilation or both.
“One
major problem that we noted is that there is a difference between the specimen
paper and the paper that came in the final examination,” reads part of the
letter.
Both
teachers and learners, the letter states, felt misled by the syllabus template
as its guidelines did not do justice to them.
Moreover,
the FRS 6074/1 specimen paper was two hours long but the actual paper was
written in two hours 30 minutes. The specimen instructed pupils to choose four
questions each carrying 25 marks but the actual paper required pupils to answer
five questions.
In
response, Zimsec said it took the issues raised seriously and will do thorough
investigations.
“As
the examination council, we do not take lightly these issues and are in the
process of making investigations so as to respond to you accurately and
timeously,” reads part of the response.
A
Divinity teacher told TellZim News some of the pupils wrote four questions as
had been advised by their teachers in the days before the exams while others noticed
the inconsistency and answered five.
Another
teacher said he suspected the typists did not sit down to plan the Divinity
Paper 2 exam, but simply edited the paper 1 which required candidates to answer
five structured questions, each with 20 marks, but then forgot to change the
allocated time and the number of questions to be answered.
The
paper also carried a recommendation for candidates not to spend more than 40
minutes on each question, meaning it would require a candidate who took the
advice more than three hours to complete the paper.
A heritage studies ‘O’ level paper was labeled ‘A level’ and Zimsec had to send an
erratum notifying schools about the mistake.
The
‘O’ level mathematics paper 1 had a question which required pupils to plot a
graph but the points exceeded the size of the graph paper.
Grade
seven teachers also complained about the English Paper 2 whose questions they
claimed were not inclusive; with candidates being asked to write a composition
either on poor service delivery at a hotel or the experiences of life at a
farm.
“What
did they expect children in rural areas who have never been at a hotel or at a
farm to write about? There are also children in urban areas who do not even
have the slightest idea of how hotel service works,” said one primary school
teacher.
TellZim
News reported a few weeks ago that the ‘O’ level Chemistry Paper 3 required
pupils to use highly concentrated Ammonia which affected many student, teachers
and lab technicians across the country, some of them suffering convulsions and
asthmatic attacks.

Parents lament awful Dabwa School grade seven results

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Parents lament awful Dabwa School grade seven results


Brighton Chiseva
ZAKA – Parents with
children going to Dabwa Primary School in Zaka district have complained about the
poor results obtained by grade seven pupils this year.
Parents told
TellZim News the school recorded a 24 percent pass rate, which is the lowest in
the district. They said the school used to record at least a 30 percent pass
rate after every exam sitting but things have suddenly deteriorated to shocking
levels.
When contacted
for comment, Zaka District Schools Inspector (DSI) Samson Chidzurira confirmed
the awful results, saying parents were justified in being worried because the
record was not in sync with what they were used to.
“We are equally
worried because that has not been Dabwa’s pass rate. The school is now at the
very bottom of the district. As the ministry and the district, we should have
time to go and look into the issue to see what could be the cause and map the
way forward,” said Chidzurira.
He said he could
not blame the school head at the moment but will also look at the teaching
staff.
“We will have to
stamp our authority on the school. Though the school head has his own issues, I
cannot blame him in the mean time until we do investigations. I will have to
look at the staff and the parents’ side,” he said.
However, parents
accused the school head William Mandima and his deputy Euvancio Mukuwe for the
poor results.
“The headmaster
is a womaniser and his deputy head is strict for nothing and he is a drunkard.
He is working to destroy the headmaster so that he can take over from him. The
two are only strict with male teachers but female teachers are allowed to do as
they please. They must create a workable environment for teachers to improve
the pass rate,” said one parent.
Mandima
confirmed the poor results but said he could not be held liable alone as he was
just ‘new’ at the school.
“I cannot be
blamed for the poor pass rate. I have been at the school for only eight months
and had been struggling to have pupils come to school. Even during holiday
lessons, I had to call parents to send pupils to school but most of them did
not come.
“Some of the
parents are just after tarnishing the school’s image but they are to blame for
not supporting the school’s efforts. They do not send their children to school
when we request them to do so,” said Mandima.

Farmers urged to grow short-season seed varieties

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Farmers urged to grow short-season seed varieties

Tiyani Hahlani

The Meteorological Services Department (MSD) recently released the 2018-19 national rainfall forecast which is being used by farmers in the southern region of the country to select the best seed varieties to plant.
Some seed retailers in Masvingo are using the information to advice farmers on how to approach the cropping season which is expected to receive average to below average rainfall.
One of such retailers is Farm and City Centre which has urged farmers to wisely choose what to plant so as to minimise losses and increase chances of good harvests.
Farm and City Centre Masvingo branch manager, Vengai Defu advised local farmers to choose short season seed varieties that he said were more adapted to producing higher yields with lower rainfall.
“We encourage farmers in Masvingo to use short season plants since they are capable of maturing with the lower amounts of rainfall and a shorter rainy season. Such seeds have a drought escape mechanism which enables them to mature fast with whatever little moisture they can get.

                                                                       Vengai Defu

“In maize, there is MRI 514 which is an early mature variety, C 513(Zebra) which has better yield capacity and also PGS 51 which is drought and heat-tolerant. PGS 51 is mostly suitable for dry areas and has a double cob characteristic and it is resistant to maize streak virus and cob rot,” said Defu.
He also urged farmers to use fertilisers in order to facilitate quicker crop growth as well as higher yield per acre of land.
“Even after knowing the adequate type of seeds to plough, the farmer must also use fertilisers like Compound D and Ammonia Nitrate as they are the best recommended in areas surrounding Masvingo. In areas with little rainfall, Urea must not be used because it is a highly concentrated nitrogenous fertilizer and is fairly hygroscopic,” said Defu.
He said it was also advisable for some farmers in areas like Mwenezi and Chiredzi to avoid maize and concentrate on small grains like sorghum and millet as those require little rainfall to grow and produce.

Community share ownership scheme builds houses at Zvishavane clinic

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Community share ownership scheme builds houses at Zvishavane clinic



Exsto Makunzva  


ZVISHAVANE – The construction of two staff houses by Zvishavane Community Share Ownership Trust (ZCSOT) at Marira Clinic in Shiku village under Chief Masunda has been greatly welcomed by local people.
ZCSTOS built two six-roomed houses, four pit latrines and erected a 400-metre fencing at a total cost of $30 143.
Headman Siku (Samuel Venge) told TellZim News that he appreciated what ZCSTOS had done at the clinic which is expected to open in early 2019.
“The ground-breaking was done in 2011 and we at first got help from Runde Rural District Council which helped in the construction of t

he clinic. We are pleased ZCSOT has chipped in by building two houses. We are very happy that we got help at such a time like this when the cost of almost everything has doubled.
“Villagers from Shiku travel between seven and 10 kilometres to Lundi Clinic or Dambudzo Clinic so it is really difficult. We hope that will all be a thing of the past when the clinic eventually opens,” said Headman Shiku.
Zvishavane-Runde Ward 4 councillor, Beatrice Mutare thanked the scheme for helping to make the lives of rural people easier.
“The opening of the clinic means a lot to the community. The clinic will make rural life even easier as we will no longer travel long distance for medical attention,” she said.
ZCSOST Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Trust Jinga said the project was conceived following requests from the community.
“Our mandate is to build sustainable livelihoods in Zvishavane through infrastructure and social service development, investment promotion and capacity building. The community proposed the construction of staff houses, toilets and fencing and we responded accordingly,” said Jinga.

TSCZ wants safer roads this festive season

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TSCZ wants safer roads this festive season



Tinaani   Nyabereka


GWERU – The Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) is determined to help keep the number of road accidents very low this festive season, the organisation’s CEO, Obio Chinyere has said.
Addressing stakeholders at the handover ceremony of a traffic training centre built at Cecil John Rhodes Primary School last week, TSCZ Chinyere said the organisation was targeting a 50 percent lower number of traffic accidents than last year.
“We are committed to work hard and reduce accidents deaths from 2000 with the current one million vehicle population. Our engagement with government aims to reduce that by 50 percent as per United Nation traffic regulation standards of which Sadc and Zimbabwe are signatories.
“The training centre is therefore an important facility to teach children to be more vigilant when using the roads. We are all aware that children behave differently from adults in traffic situations because they have physical and mental characteristics that limit their ability to handle complex traffic situations,” said Chinyere.
Speaking at the same event, Minister of State for Midlands Provincial Affairs Larry Mavhima said traffic safety was everybody’s responsibility.
“As enunciated in government plans for economic growth and recovery, the cultivation of the Public/Private Partnerships in road safety infrastructure developments is vital to society. So   being on the road is a privilege but you need to be responsible,” said Mavhima.
TSCZ donated 35 bicycles to Cecil John Rhodes School for pupils to use at the centre while $1000 was given to Mavhima’s office to use on a traffic safety project of his own choice.

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