CommuTalk Reporter
GWERU District Coordinating Committee chairperson for Zanu PF, Brown Ndlovu has brought smiles on the faces of people in Vungu and Chiundura Constituencies after drilling boreholes in various wards.
Speaking during the drilling of a borehole at Tunhunhu Village in ward 8 Vungu Constituency, Ndlovu said President Emmerson Mnangagwa has directed that Zimbabwe should be a middle-income economy by 2030 and the provision of water to rural communities would help achieve that dream.
With the availability of water in rural communities, people would embark on income-generating projects like gardens and poultry among others that would help improve livelihoods.
The Tunhunhu Village boreholes were preceded by the drilling of another borehole at Nhlangano Secondary School in the same ward.
Similar boreholes have also been done in Chiundura at Nyabhango Primary in ward 12, Mandindindi in ward 14, and Tongogara District Game Park where a pump was installed in ward 9.
In reference to the Tunhunhu Village borehole, Ndlovu said people there, which is where he also grew up had approached complaining about the unavailability of water.
“The borehole here had been dysfunctional for some time and when the people approached me for assistance. I however already had a program of providing water as the DCC chairperson to the whole district,” he said.
“Before proceeding with the program, I decided that I should assist the community that raised me, which is here at Tunhunhu and also at Nhlangano where I learned from Form 1 to Form 4.”
After the two boreholes, Ndlovu said they were going to provide fences for gardens in wards 16 and 9 within the next three weeks.
A villager Bianca Sibanda said the provision of safe clean water near their homesteads would result in walking between seven and eight kilometers for water a thing of the past.
“We were afraid of diseases like cholera and dysentery but we no longer have that fear,” she said.
Another villager Alman Sibanda said they used to fetch water in Gweru River, which they would boil so that they use it for cooking and bathing as it would at times be contaminated.
He also said they would also walk long distances to Siphosami Shops to get water for drinking.
“We are happy with the new dispensation under President Mnangagwa which has brought clean and safe water to our villages,” he said.
Gweru DCC secretary for information and publicity Victor Maride said villages that will benefit include Tunhunhu, Mcedisi and Nkani with at least 650 families using the water.
Maride said ZANU PF was now fulfilling its election promises of improving people’s livelihoods.
Meanwhile, politicians have often been accused of embarking on developmental projects towards elections in desperate bids to secure votes.
