…. ‘Land Reform on
sugarcane plantations benefitted outsiders’

TellZim
Reporter

CHIREDZI
– As
society becomes increasingly digital, Tell Zimbabwe has devised an appropriate
response by livestreaming some of its activities in order to cater for a
greater audience.

At Rufaro Hall in Ward
18, Triangle, a public dialogue was attended by 150 people and was beamed live
on Facebook, with the link being shared on other social media platforms namely
Twitter and WhatsApp.

The event saw
participants engaging with their ward councillor Gilbert Mutubuki who was
elected in last year’s harmonised elections on promises of fighting for better
service delivery.

Some of the issues that
came out of the discussions included lack of support for informal traders,
shortage of residential stands, sugar company Tongaat Hulett’s employees
reaching the age of retirement without anything to show for it, the Land Reform
Program benefitting mostly outsiders at the expense of locals and the dire
living conditions in compounds housing employees of small-holder sugarcane
farmers who benefitted from the Land Reform Program.

Residents who spoke at
the event said they appreciated the efforts of Tell Zimbabwe and other
community based organisations in getting their voices and concerns across to
solution holders.

Others said it was
critical to continue with livestreamed dialogues of that nature so that all
leaders – whether elected or appointed – could publicly be held to account and
as a way of confirming that they indeed represent the public interest.

Tell Zimabwe programs
manager Passmore Kuzipa said the organisation will work harder to improve
contact between the public and office holder.

“I am pleased that our
programing work is being received with greater enthusiasm than we had ever
expected. We pledge to work harder to bring leaders back to the people whose
interests they purport to represent. Livestreaming is one such way of doing
that, and the footage is stored as an archive which will be useful for future
references,” said Kuzipa.

                                                  Taruvinga Chivasa

Moses Ziyambi

MASVINGO – The heavily-polluted water in Mucheke is no longer
suitable for whatever use, and it would require several years of consistent
clean-up exercises to restore the river to its original pristine state, the
Mutirikwi Sub-Catchment Council has said.

Speaking to TellZim News in an
interview, Mutirikwi Sub-Catchment Council manager Taruvinga Chivasa said it
was important that all stakeholders worked together to protect rivers.

“Mucheke joins Shakashe River
which is one of the most important tributaries feeding into Lake Mutirikwi; the
sole source of drinking water for Masvingo city. It is unfortunate, however,
that despite Mucheke River being clean upstream, it becomes choked with all
forms of pollutants as it passes through the city,” said Chivasa.

He said the sub-catchment council
would find it hard to issue out licences to anybody who requests permission to
extract water from the part of that part of the river going downstream.

“It will be difficult, if not
impossible to allow anybody to extract water from the river in its current
soiled state. We need a plan with all stakeholders to stop the pollution and
restore sanity in our river,” said Chivasa.

He said the invasive water
hyacinth which blankets many pools in the river was thriving on human faecal
matter which is rich is nitrates and phosphates.

“The weed is quite problematic in
that you cannot simply get rid of it without a good plan. You may want to
remove it mechanically but you would only be treating the symptoms, not the
actual illness. The weed has thousands of seeds on the river bed and the weed
would sprout once again as soon as it’s fed the nutrients it wants. So
pollution has to completely cease first before we can talk about removing the
weed,” said Chivasa.

He said during the rainy season,
the hyacinth is washed down stream until it reaches the lake where it cannot
survive due to conditions that are not favourable.

Besides sewage from burst pipes,
the river is also polluted by litter thrown recklessly by pedestrians and
motorists alike, while toxic oils and waste water from the industrial area also
contribute substantially to the pollution.