…community implores government to chip in
Fredrick Moyo
People in communities around Chikarudzo area of Masvingo Central constituency have bemoaned poor infrastructure with bad roads hampering transporters from offering services to the areas, prompting people to walk long distances to access health services while learners face the same predicament to access education.
Speaking at the Padare naMambo Mugabe engagement meeting organized by TellZim News in partnership with ZIMCODD on April 29, 2022 women and various village heads engaged traditional leader Chief Mugabe born Matubede Mudavanhu on the challenges they are facing in their communities which need urgent attention.
A number of people who attended the meeting said they were facing transport challenges as the roads and bridges are in bad state.
“The rains really damaged the roads that people used to travel on especially school children and even cars are failing to reach their intended destinations because of the bad state the roads are in.
“We also have poor bridges in the area, cars are not reaching their destinations and it is also affecting us to reach to the clinics especially during the evening when someone gets sick as people say that the roads are bad and they cannot assist us. Even if a pregnant woman gets sick for example, she is likely to give birth on the road to the nearest health centre as getting transport to the facility won’t be possible because of these damaged roads,” said one elderly woman.
School children also face the burden of travelling for 20 km to and from school on a daily basis which directly has a bearing on their studies.
“Without the assistance, it is really difficult for school children to go to school, some pupils are walking for more than 20 km a day and this is also affecting their performance as they get to school tired and as parents we cannot expect better results from our kids after travelling long distances,” said another participant.
The other participant also added that local resources are being looted as the community is not in a position to reap benefits hence the need for government to chip in.
“We have a lot of wild fruits in here but we are not benefiting from them as people travel as far as Bulawayo in search of those fruits and the community is benefiting nothing from that.
“It would have been ideal for government to come to our rescue like they did to the people of Mwenezi where they established a Marula processing plant by offering us similar projects so that we directly benefit from our resources at the expense of people from afar,” he added.
Poor road networks, access to health facilities, water supply among other essentials have haunted most communities despite the principle of devolution being touted as improving livelihoods in most communities.
