Beatific Gumbwanda
CHIREDZI- Mkwasine sugar cane farmers have been urged to step up and improve sanitation facilities and safe drinking water or people will perish from cholera.
Ward 21 Councilor, Wellington Mudzimiri said farmers should be taken to task to repair and develop Mkwasine Estate as they have been empowered through the land reform program.
“Farmers should be taken to task to make sure that they provide better sanitation for their employees. We can’t think of donors to come and rescue us on something we can do for ourselves. We have been empowered by the government with land and it is up to us to make the best out of it,” said Mudzimiri.
Former Secretary General for Zimbabwe Sugarcane Development Association Royal Trust (ZSDA) Solomon Gavaza said Mkwasine Estates had tapped water infrastructure which was dilapidated years ago and people are now resorting to canals for drinking water and bush toilets.
“Mkwasine has tapped water infrastructure which has dilapidated. Only a few areas if not only three villages out of 32 Mkwasine Villages still have access to clean water. People are now resorting to canals for drinking water and bush toilets,” said Gavaza.
Mkwasine Sugarcane Farmers Association, Obert Maganda said they provided the association’s vehicle for door-to-door campaigns by the outreach team and also provided soap, drugs, and buckets for use at Mkwasine Clinic.
“We have managed to provide soap, drugs, and buckets for use by patients at our local Mkwasine Clinic. We also provided our vehicle for door-to-door campaign by the outreach team,” said Maganda.
Visit by this publication to Mkwasine Estate, particularly in ward 21 and Mapanza on a fact-finding mission discovered that people were still drinking from unprotected wells.
There has been resistance by most sugarcane farmers to contribute towards Mkwasine Management Committee (MMC) a consortium aimed at developing the dilapidated Mkwsine estate to reclaim the lost status, which has also snail-paced development.
Zimbabwe’s oldest sugarcane estate, Mkwasine Estate, which was abandoned by Tongaat Hulett Zimbabwe (THZ) in 2006 after the Government took over through its land reform program was left nursing cholera injuries which were necessitated by dilapidated infrastructure and lack of clean drinking water, which was vandalized and never refurbished when black out-grower farmers took over.
The out-grower farmers who grabbed the thriving Mkwasine estate are now struggling to maintain the standards that were left by the settlers and THZ as they are even failing to produce close to 400 000 tonnes of sugarcane per annum, refurbish the compounds and supply clean and fresh water to their employees, which has been a recipe for disaster over the past few months, with cholera leaving a trail of destruction.
They have also been resorting to bush toilets as blair toilets, which were constructed decades ago had filled up and had become a health disaster for many.
Mapanza area, where a makeshift health facility under a tree was established to save lives stirred debate on social media, after the picture was shared.