CHIREDZI – Chiredzi is one district which has immensely improved on the use of fireguard in Masvingo province, Environmental Management Agency (EMA) has said.
Speaking during the Provincial World Environment Day commemorations held at Sebanani Primary School in Ward 20 in Chiredzi, EMA Provincial Manager Robson Mavondo hailed villagers for implementing fireguards ain order to protect fire outbreaks in the district.
“We are happy that villagers here are taking into consideration the measures we have been teaching you to prevent veld fires. We are happy that this year you have come on the third position in the province,” said Mavondo.
“Let’s continue to work together to end veld fires, remember not to start any fire outside especially during fire season; that is, between July and October. Any offender will face three months imprisonment or $100 fine,” he added.
Villagers were also urged to use nine mitre fireguards to protect their fields from veld fires and they were also encouraged to plant trees in order to compensate for the cut down trees.
Chiredzi had the highest rate of veld fire outbreak last year, a position which has since taken over by Mwenezi district this year.local

Lawrence Mandava

ZIMUTO – The Reformed Church in Zimbabwe (RCZ) – run Copota School for the Blind and the Henry Murray Schools for the Deaf have pleaded for assistance to enable them to beat the numerous resource challenges they are facing in efficiently doing their work.
At an event to facilitate a mutual relationship between the two institutions and the Ministry of Psychomotor organised by the RCZ at Zimuto Mission last week, church moderator Reverend Ranganai Rutoro said the schools currently relied on the goodwill of well-wishers to keep going.
“Our challenges have increased with the economic hardships we are facing as a country. All the raw materials are imported and we cannot access them because of Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016.
“New technologies have pushed out of the market some of the critical products like chalk that we used to produce in bulk at these schools for sale at the market,” said Rev Rutoro.
He said the schools were debt-ridden and were in urgent need of relief, calling upon government to stretch its hand and help the schools.
“Currently Copota and Henry Murray have hundreds of thousands of unpaid electricity and water bills partly because BEAM (the government’s Basic Education Assistance Module) has not released funds since 2014.
“Our culture does not care about the education of deaf and blind children. The church makes all the efforts to keep them going to school but because of other commitments, some of the needs are not met,” said Rev Rutoro.
Psychomotor Minister Josaya Hungwe, who visited the schools, said he would make sure the government extends its support to the welfare and education of the blind as well as the deaf and dumb.local

Denford Masiya

Beatific Gumbwanda

CHIREDZI – Zanu PF supporters have accused party provincial deputy chairperson Ailes Baloyi for allegedly diverting 200 litres of fuel which was provided by the Commercial Sugarcane Farmers Association of Zimbabwe (CSFAZ) to ferry party supporters and senior government officials to the commissioning of Tokwe Mukosi Dam last week.
Baloyi signed for 200 litres of fuel donated by CSFAZ for the purposes of transporting supporters to and from Tokwe Mukosi where President Mugabe was commissioning the dam.
“He organised with the DA that they hire a bus which was supposed to transport senior government officials and Zanu PF supporters to and from Tokwe Mukosi and had instructed the DA to use the fuel which they had sourced from CSFAZ.
“He then later said all the fuel was finished after the bus had travelled only three trips leaving many people stranded,” said a source.
When contacted for comment, Baloyi denied the accusations and blamed intra-party mudslinging for what he said were attempts to smear him.
“You know people have already begun campaigning and they are trying to tarnish my image with useless things. It’s true that I signed for 200 litres of fuel and we gave 40 litres to the bus and the remaining fuel was allocated to the trucks that were hired to ferry other people,” said Baloyi.
District youth chairperson Philip Chiedza admitted there were challenges in getting some people back to Chiredzi due to errors in fuel allocation.
“We didn’t properly allocate the fuel but thank God we solved it and managed to find our way back home,” said Chiedza
Chiredzi South legislator Rtd Brigadier General Kalisto Gwanetsa was the one who bailed out the victims by supplying the required fuel to take them back.
“Yes I did provide fuel to ferry people after the DA had phoned me in desperation,” said Gwanetsa.local

Increase Gumbo

CHIREDZI – The Environmental Management Agency (Ema) Masvingo provincial manager Robson Mavondo has described the high levels of littering in Chiredzi town as unacceptable, saying it was high time people took responsibility for their actions.
Speaking during the Provincial Environment Day celebrations held at Sebanani last week, Mavondo said Chiredzi was specifically chosen to host the event for a purpose.
“We have decided to hold the celebrations here in Chiredzi after noticing the high levels of littering in this town. We think these celebrations will raise awareness on the need to preventing littering,” Mavondo said.
Until last year, Chiredzi was operating without a dumpsite until Ema intervened and forced town authorities to build a temporary site and look for a proper place to build a permanent one.
Underdeveloped suburbs like Makondo Extension and Joina City have been identified as some of the most littered places due to lack of proper refuse removal infrastructure.
Chiredzi Town Council engineer Wesley Kauma recently told TellZim News that the town was still working on ways to end the problem by developing roads in the suburbs so that refuse trucks could also reach there.
“As council, we know of the issue and we are working on something in order to come up with a solution to rectify this problem though in the meantime, there is nothing we can do. They are living like that; a dump truck cannot pass through because there are no roads there,” said Kauma.
He blamed residents for slowing the development process through their erratic or, in some cases, outright non-payment of rates.
“Residents are not paying up in time. We gave people a chance to pay what they owe in instalments but unfortunately, we are still facing enormous challenges in meeting our revenue collection targets,” said Kauma.local

ZEWU members during the clean-up campaign

MASVINGO – The Zimbabwe Energy Workers Union (ZEWU) Masvingo chapter celebrated its belated International Youth Day for the year 2017 last week under the theme “Challenging Youth to Prepare Their Future for Development and Sustainability”.
The union, which deals with the interests of employees in the energy sector through representation and advocacy against unfair labour practices, started the celebrations with a clean-up campaign in town.
City of Masvingo Deputy Mayor James Chiwara who came on behalf of Mayor Hubert Fidze, thanked ZEWU for understanding the importance of a clean city.
“Of course Masvingo is one of the cleanest cities in Zimbabwe so I am very pleased by this clean-up campaign. It has opened opportunities between us as stakeholders to work together and open doors for each other,” said Chiwara.
The celebrations ended at Masvingo Sports Club where ZEWU national youth chairperson for Christian Ranji encouraged all young people to be united and embrace Information Communication Technology (ICT) and educate themselves on their rights.
“Let’s put our political differences aside and work together as youths. I encourage youths to embrace ICT and social media to educate other youths to be involved in unions and help each other know our rights as young people and employees,” said Ranji.local

TellZim Reporter

CHIREDZI – The relationship between Tongaat Hullet and the Lowveld Indigenous Business Association of Zimbabwe (LIBAZ) has empowered local business people in Chiredzi, TellZim News has learnt.
LIBAZ, which comprises over 120 companies being run by Chiredzi-based indigenous businessman, entered into an agreement with the giant sugar company to facilitate business between the two sides especially in Tongaat Hullet’s supply chain.
The idea is to create synergies that allow indigenous small to medium enterprises to be given priority in all areas that Tongaat Hullet chooses to outsource.
Speaking to TellZim News recently, LIBAZ chairperson Denford Masiya said the agreement came as a boon for enterprises in Chiredzi as they now stand a better chance of doing business with Tongaat Hullet.
“We started our organisation in 2011 and since then, we never looked back. This development has helped us to empower Black-owned businesses. We are happy with the relationship that we have with Tongaat Hullet because as we speak, we are now getting around 20 – 21 percent of Tongaat Hullet’s supply work.
“The percentage might sound small but we are talking of huge sums of money that is now actually circulating in Chiredzi. We have therefore managed to get local people into local business opportunities. It is our goal to make sure that our district is given priority when spreading available economic opportunities,” said Masiya.
Masiya said his organisation will continue to explore for various ways they can help their companies to remain viable.
Following the completion of Tokwe Mkosi Dam, Masiya said LIBAZ expects its members to also benefit from development.
“We have organisations that are professional and it is our hope that LIBAZ will also get a fair share of business out of the initiatives being planned around Tokwe Mkosi Dam,” added Masiya.local

CHIREDZI – The district has been identified as a leader in HIV prevalence rate as well new cases of infections due to the sugarcane industry which remains the only vibrant economic sector with the biggest number of employees at the same place.
This was heard last week at a National Aids Council (Nac) – organised provincial Aids day held at Gibbo Stadium.
Masvingo Provincial Administrator (PA) Fungai Mbetsa said although there was a notable decline in HIV prevalence, it was still worrying that the figures were still very high.
“We noted with pleasure that the new STIs infection rate has taken a downward trend and this need be maintained. There is need for continued community mobilisation on condom awareness, HIV testing and STIs awareness and screening.
“The provisions of HIV and Aids information and deliberate targeting of key populations like in and out of school youths remain critical. This should remain critical,” said Mbetsa.
He encouraged Nac to be pro-active in fighting the spread of HIV and other STIs among employees who will be working on the dualisation of the Harare – Beitbridge highway.
“With the dualisation of Harare to Beitbridge highway on the table, we need to be pro-active and be in a position to combat the spread of HIV infections among the would-be workers and their sexual partners. HIV prevention services need to be availed to all camping sites and the hosting communities,” Mbetsa said.
Tongaat Hullet corporate communications officer, Adelaide Chikunguru also highlighted in her welcome remarks that the sugar company’s seasonal workers were at high risk due to the high numbers of trucks coming from Mutate going to Beitbridge.
“Chiredzi district has a higher burden of HIV than all other districts in the province and this has not spared our workers. In response to HIV and Aids, Tongaat Hullet runs a vibrant work place programme with peer educators that are supported by the company.
“The seasonal workers are part of the risky groups. The Mutate BeitBridge highway passes through Chiredzi and due to restricted weight for traffic passing through Birchnough Bridge, the volume of trucks passing through the district has increased and this has become an HIV risk factor,” said Chikunguru.local