Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

Johnsias Mutonhori, Midlands Correspondent

VILLAGERS on the outskirts of Zhombe Growth Point in the Midlands Province will soon bid farewell to days of travelling long distances to access medical services as Fafu Clinic which is on their doorsteps is almost complete.

The clinic at 90 percent complete is set to alleviate the healthcare burden for local communities. The construction of the clinic started in 2019 after the inception of the Second Republic, facilitated by Zibagwe Rural District Council (RDC) and funded through devolution funds, to bring health services closer to the people.

The clinic consists of an outpatient department, maternity ward, antenatal clinic, general ward, and pharmacy. 

It will come as a major relief to communities of wards 9, 12, and 13, who are walking long distances to Zhombe Mission Hospital and Kwekwe General Hospital to get primary healthcare services. 

The development is a fitting fulfilment of the aspiration of the Second Republic health policy which seeks to bring health services closer to the people and improve accessibility to within 10km at most.

During an inspection tour to assess the progress and address challenges, Midlands Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Cde Owen Ncube urged the Zibagwe RDC to expedite the completion of the clinic and its facilities.

“I urge Zibagwe RDC to move with speed in line with the expectations of the Second Republic to ensure the timely completion of this clinic which is long overdue. The RDC should ensure other outstanding works that include fencing, electrification, water supply, construction of septic tanks, and staff houses are completed by the end of this year,” he said. 

The completion of the Fafu Clinic will add to the other 17 functional clinics operating under the Zibagwe Rural District Council. The Second Republic is seized with rural transformation supported by the devolution and decentralisation agenda which empowers local communities through strengthening local decision-making, planning, project selection, and utilisation of local resources for development. 

“The Second Republic is pro-people in its approach and is committed to the provision of quality and affordable service delivery without compromise. Wellness is central to production and productivity as the Second Republic targets an upper-middle-income economy earlier than 2030 driven by a healthy human capital,” Minister Ncube said.

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Raymond Jaravaza, Sunday News Reporter

WHEN a wildlife enthusiast and would-be safari lodge owner first set up a makeshift roof corrugated structure in the middle of virgin land and hired locals to clear the land, villagers assumed a man with deep pockets had come to build a fancy homestead in their humble village.

Little did the villagers know that a project, years in the making, by a man whose love for wildlife runs in his blood would not only transform their village in Gwayi, but also create jobs directly and indirectly. When the Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa expedited plans for the construction of the much-touted Lake Gwayi Shangani in 2018, gold miner Mr Dubuza Raiton Mpunzi, also had his own dream to fulfil.

Mr Mpunzi, understood the economic benefits the Lake would bring, not only to the immediate communities surrounding the mega water reservoir but to villages hundreds of kilometres away ,such as the one where he set up a lodge along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road in Gwayi.

Sitting about half a kilometre from the Gwayi River, Mpunzi’s Gwayi Rhino Lodge is a 41-chalet facility that he constructed from scratch starting in 2020 and is expected to become fully operational in June this year, when all the relevant paperwork from the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) – the body mandated to develop, manage and market the country as a tourist destination – is granted.

At first glance from the main Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Road, the newly established lodge looks like a modern homestead, but a closer look shows dozens of chalets, built with an African touch, surrounded by indigenous trees and shrubs deliberately left uncut for an authentic bush feeling that tourists love about the Zimbabwean safari experience.

While the construction of the Lake Gwayi-Shangani is touted as a game changer that will eliminate water shortages in Bulawayo and bring opportunities such as agriculture, tourism and electricity generation once completed, Mr Mpunzi saw an opportunity to move in and claim a piece of the pie in the safari industry.

“The safari industry is a cut throat business ,where competition is tight and it’s not easy for black Zimbabweans to tap in, but I was ready to force my way in and build a lodge right here in Gwayi from scratch. When we first came here in 2020, just before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and put up a makeshift structure, villagers often asked us what we were doing in the middle of the bush.

“They assumed that we wanted to build a fancy homestead,but gradually they understood that we were onto something much bigger than that after seeing the size of the land we hired them to clear and eventually the number of chalets we started to construct. Right now, we have built 41 chalets, and the plan is to add more structures to accommodate as many clients as we can such as companies bringing in large numbers of staff members for retreats or conferences,” he said. 

The gold miner turned safari lodge owner, says if it was not for the construction of Lake Gwayi Shangani, he probably would not have ventured into the tourism business in the Gwayi area.  

On completion Lake Gwayi-Shangani will become the third largest inland water body after Tugwi Mukosi and Lake Mutirikwi, both in Masvingo Province. Situated about 6,5 kilometres from the confluence of Gwayi and Shangani rivers, the concrete gravity arch dam was designed and engineered by the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) and has a gross capacity of close to 700 million cubic litres. The Gwayi Rhino Lodge is situated close to the Gwayi River, a position that Mr Mpunzi wants to fully exploit in growing the popularity of the business.

“Visitors will be able to see wild animals drinking water from the Gwayi River standing right next to the perimeter fence of the lodge. We want to keep the place as wild as possible so that visitors can enjoy the scenery and experience living in harmony with nature,” he said.

From the initial clearing of the land that the lodge sits on to the construction of the first chalet, Mr Mpunzi has heavily depended on locals for labour and expertise thereby creating employment for builders, cleaners, gardeners and security personnel.

“We have already identified staff members who will be part of the workforce when the lodge opens mid-year and the majority of the employees are locals. Tourists will want to learn a few things about the culture of the local people here in Gwayi and what better way to do that than by interacting with staff members that were born and bred in the villages surrounding the lodge.”

While the completion of the Gwayi Shangani Dam is anticipated to bring relief to Bulawayo’s water woes, Mr Mpunzi already sees immediate benefits to the surrounding villages whose community members can supply his lodge with fresh produce such as vegetables, eggs and meat from poultry, goat rearing and cattle farming.

The Government has identified 10 000 hectares of land that will be irrigated in various districts in Matabeleland North to enhance food security as communities along the Gwayi Shangani Dam pipeline are expected to benefit from the water passing through their villages. And those are the villages that can be empowered by businesses such as the Gwayi Rhino Lodge.

“The lodge will need constant supply of fresh vegetables, eggs, mealies and other locally sourced food which the villagers can supply and make money. I was inspired to build this place after I realised how serious the government was about completing the Gwayi Shangani Dam and I looked at the opportunities that the dam would bring to the tourism industry, so I believe villagers must look at how they can also benefit at household level. The government has made it easy for citizens to conduct business, so it’s important that as Zimbabweans we take full advantage of projects that President Mnangagwa is implementing to improve their lives. Imagine how much a local farmer will make by supplying us with eggs every week or fresh vegetables on a daily basis,” added Mpunzi.

Follow on X: @RaymondJaravaza

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Vusumuzi Dube and Rutendo Nyeve, Sunday News Reporters

 BULAWAYO could face its worst water crisis in the past 10 years, with statistics at hand showing that its supply dams are in the red, a few weeks before the official ending of the rainy season in Zimbabwe.

This comes as the Government and the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) are already looking for possible urgent solutions to this possible crisis, amid indications that residents might endure the stringent water shedding schedule right throughout the year.

An analysis of the dam levels over the past 10 years at the end of the rainy season, reveals that the city is possibly headed for its worst crisis. According to the local authority, as of last Friday the city’s supply dams were 42.39 percent full, the previous week they stood at 42.78 percent full.

In a maximum dam levels Trend at the End of Each Rain Season generally dam levels have been on a downward trend since 2015, with the lowest having been in 2020, where the city’s dams stood at 35.27 percent by the end of the rainy season.

“Even though dams spilled in 2017, the only other best season was in 2021 when dams reached 70.4 percent full. From 2021 to date, the Situation has been worsening with each passing consecutive year,” reads a presentation by the local authority on the city’s water situation.

In 2015, by the end of the rainy season the supply dams were 71 percent full, in 2016 they were 65.9 percent full, 2017; 97.2 percent, 2018; 87.3 percent, 2019; 61.7 percent and in 2020 the supply dams were 35.27 percent full by the end of the rainy season.

In 2021, the dams were 70.4 percent full by the end of the rainy season, in 2022 they were 60.68 percent full and last year by the end of the rainy season the dams were 59.16 percent full. In the past 20 years the lowest dam supplies was recorded in 1995, where the dams were 12 percent full.

Responding to questions from Sunday News, the local authority’s corporate communications officer, Miss Bongiwe Ngwenya, revealed that according to their projections, by the end of the rainy season the city’s dams would be 40.27 percent full.

“The City uses the 21 month management tool rule as an early warning framework. The rule states that at the end of the rainy season in April each year, there should be enough water in the dams to last 21 months through a 10 percent low inflow year to the beginning of the next rainy season (April 1996 Future Water Supplies). The 2023/2024 season has been projected, assuming no further inflows in the dam to be at 40.27 percent by the end of April 2024.

“Currently, the City has one of the dams decommissioned (Mzingwane dam on November 18, 2023) and therefore relies on the other five dams for water supplies. Drought related water shortages have prevailed over the years, leading to a perpetual water rationing regime in the city and seasonal varying shedding regimes varying from 24hours/week to the extreme 144 hours /week. Presently, the City is supplying water under a 120 hour shedding,” said Miss Ngwenya.

The council spokesperson, revealed that Lower Ncema is projected to be decommissioned on 6 July, while Upper Ncema is projected to be decommissioned on 1 September.  Meanwhile, the Government has given a 20-member Bulawayo Water Technical Committee, the task to expedite the evaluation process of the Glass Block dam in order to facilitate the formal granting of approvals for the complimentary investment to curb the City’s woes.

This comes as council has set a target of April, to come up with both the engineering and financial feasibility studies of the project, which they say will be funded by private players. Glass Block Dam- which has been taunted as one of the city’s medium term solutions- is a proposed reservoir on the Umzingwane River, with a carrying capacity of 14 million cubic metres.

The construction works of the Glass Block Dam, which includes a 41km pipeline connecting to the Lower Ncema Dam, would take 30 months to complete.  The local authority has intensified plans to construct the US$100 million water supply dam in Insiza District in Matabeleland South as part of its short-to-medium-term solution to address the perennial water crisis.

Speaking soon after a meeting of the 20-member Bulawayo Water Technical Committee in Bulawayo last Wednesday, the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement, Dr Anxious Masuka, said the technical committee should expedite the evaluation process of the dam.

“The city of Bulawayo presented a proposal for the private sector investment in a dam and we said this technical team ought to expedite the evaluation process, so that the approvals can be granted formerly for that complimentary investment,” said Dr Masuka.

The Government is further expected to secure funds of up to US$15 million, required to address the Bulawayo water situation  ,while the contract to divert a portion of the Mtshabezi pipeline is forging ahead all in an effort to mitigate the water situation.

Bulawayo Mayor, Councillor David Coltart, has said the dam was one of the solutions which the local authority can be looking at progressing, while the government also works on other long term solutions like the Gwayi-Shangani dam and pipeline.

Speaking at a Community Indaba hosted in city last Thursday, to discuss the state of service delivery in the city, Clr Coltart, said they have set April as the deadline to come up with feasibility studies of the project.

“In comparison to Gwayi- Shangani, the pipeline there is going to be 257 kilometres and has to go up against 500 metres, which is a massive engineering project. We have been trying to build Glass block and Government has revealed that they do not have sufficient money, so our plan for delivering in that regard is to work with the private sector and we are working hard on that.

“We have set ourselves a deadline of April to come up with two feasibility studies, one on the engineering ,which is building the dam and the pipeline and enhancing the Ncema treatment plant and to the reservoir. The other will be on the financial feasibility. What underpins all this, is that we intend to get funding from the private sector. We want to get this private funding for the future of the city’s water supplies,” said Clr Coltart.

The mayor reiterated the need for an all stakeholders approach to the water issue in the city, noting that with unity anything was possible.

“As I have said time and again that this is not a political issue, but it is an issue that concerns all citizens and it is critically important in this time of drought that we ensure all citizens as well as this city does not run out of water.

“We are pleased that the contract to divert a portion of the Mtshabezi pipeline to Umzingwane pump station is now going to go ahead. We thank you (Dr Masuka) for talking to the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Judith Ncube, to try and secure additional resources of US$15 million that we need to address the crisis fully. The general message that we are conveying to the residents of our great city is that,we must not panic. We do have a short-term strategy and working closely with Government, we will address this issue and I am sure we will get through this period,” added the mayor.

The post Bulawayo’s worst water crisis in decade appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

Business Writer

STANBIC Bank Zimbabwe has launched an innovative programme aimed at propping up the operations and welfare of small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country.

The “Rise Above Incubator Programme” is expected to bolster 15 small to medium entrepreneurs who have promising ideas and early-stage businesses.

According to the financial services institution, beneficiaries will undergo a rigorous but rewarding three-month intensive training and capacitation programme on how to run their operations sustainably and efficiently in Zimbabwe and beyond.

Stanbic Bank head of enterprise banking, Auxilia Kambasha, said the programme seeks to support innovative and driven entrepreneurs and unlock their potential to create employment opportunities, as well as play a pivotal role in driving economic growth in Zimbabwe.

She said the term “Rise Above” was coined as a way of encouraging SMEs and the business community at large to excel against the odds.

“SMEs are being encouraged to rise above the pitfalls and challenges they face in their day-to-day operations. We envisage the programme to give a holistic approach for SMEs to understand how businesses operate and how to run a sustainable business,” said Kambasha. “Participants will learn the best practices of how to run businesses efficiently over and above financial support.”

She said the programme is targeting to mould early-stage startups that have been in operation for no more than four years to become sustainable enterprises through technical training, mentorship and access to debt financing.  Entrepreneurs between 18-40 years are eligible for the programme.

“This programme is crucial in developing and retooling the skill levels of SME players countrywide given that participants are going to be drawn from across the country,” said the official.

“It was mooted in response to the challenges that most SMEs who visit the Stanbic Bank Incubator Hub face in their operations.”

Ultimately the programme will see three winners being given access to finance their projects, subject to them meeting the terms and conditions, as well as being assigned a relationship manager.

Stanbic Bank head of business and commercial banking, Mr Patson Mahatchi, said the Rise Above Programme was testament to the banks commitment to drive Zimbabwe’s growth.

He said Stanbic is aware that SMEs contribute close to 45 percent towards the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) hence it is a key economic sector.

“Unfortunately, due to various challenges most of these businesses fail within their first and second year of operating. As a bank we realised that constraints were not solely limited to funding but included capacitation. From that notion, Stanbic Bank came up with the Incubator Hub,” said Mr Mahatchi.

Stanbic Bank launched the Incubator Hub in 2019 with the aim of providing capacitation and support to budding small to medium businesses after realising the existing gap in the running of their operations.

The Incubator Hub offers SMEs a formal working area, a platform for entrepreneurs to meet, and network among themselves, as well as rub shoulders with Stanbic Bank executives and other executives aligned to the institution.

Stanbic Bank said interested participants to the Rise Above Incubator Programme were going through an application and selection process, which is being done strictly online. The application period opened last week and closes on 19 March.

After 19 March, the applications will be screened for eligibility by two selection committees with the first one rating the online applications and scaling them down to 50 applications.  The second committee will then rate the 50 applications online and take the best scoring businesses and scale them down to 15 who will then undergo the training.

Applications will be screened according to their viability, sustainability, growth potential and scope for job creation, said the banking firm.

The incubation programme will cover topics such as business models and feasibility analysis, needs assessment, legal and governance and business financials and will end with a business award ceremony where the three SMEs will be rewarded for their excellence during the three-month programme.

Participants will be equipped to ensure that they deliver value to their customers whilst being profitable enterprises, as well as be helped to interrogate if their business model is adaptive to the business environment and if the timing of the business is correct.

“The format of this incubation programme will be combining workshop format, masterclasses and peer-to-peer collaboration, in order for the participants to benefit from the most practical trainings and examples and they can also learn best practices from each other,” said the bank.

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THE Vubachikwe Mine community in Gwanda rural, has recently been grappling with the challenge of illegal mining, which caused significant damage to the community’s infrastructure as well as increased crime rate.

Most recently, the illegal miners dug just below the main road running to  both Vubachikwe and Blankets mines,  causing severe safety and environmental concerns.

The situation has worsened to the extent that criminal activities, such as robberies and theft, became rampant, whilst machete gangs have reportedly emerged, creating an unsafe environment.

In response to the threat on infrastructure, Vubachikwe Mine, which is located nearby, joined hands with Blanket Mine and the Civil Protection Unit as well as the police force to resolve the issue of the burrowed road.

The parties came together with Blanket, taking a leading role in the provision of earthmoving equipment, rehabilitating the road as well as creating a detour road that traffic  could use whilst the main road was being rehabilitated.

“Having seen that the road had been destroyed albeit where one could not ordinarily see the damage, all parties came together under the stewardship of the Civil Protection Unit and our neighbours Blanket Mine to take ownership and a leading role to fix the road and create an alternative road during the period,” said Vubachikwe Mine manager,Mr None Kananji.

As the road was destroyed on a patch of land on mining lease 16, where Vubachikwe lies, Mr Kananji was at the heart of the crisis, with stakeholders coming together for a common cause, in what was a time for neighbourly unity and response to a crisis that united a community.

Just recently, a similar desecration of the road happened in nearby West Nicholson, with the road giving way, also caused by illegal miners, in an issue that was widely reported in various media across the nation.

Illegal miners have been on the prowl, by and large unchecked, following an illegal rowdy strike led by rogues on the Vubachilwe workforce on November 8, 2022. The Vubachikwe Mine was forced to close down as a result of the barbaric protests that destroyed facilities and equipment.

Another mine spokesperson confirmed the unity of purpose and celebrated the role of neighbours Blanket Mine, for stepping up to the plate.

“The road was desecrated. Consequently, the road was closed, and an alternative road was proposed through the Civil Protection Unit committee grouping.

“To this end, Blanket Mine, another nearby mine, stepped forward and assisted Vubachikwe Mine, with equipment and manpower to pave the detour.”

The Vubachikwe Mine management, further  expressed  gratitude to Blanket Mine for their collaboration in cushioning the problem that had arisen.

“We are immensely grateful to our neighbours who collaborated with us to cushion the impact of the problem that we were facing.Blanket Mine went above and beyond our expectations by not hesitating to lend a helping hand.

“They provided more than what we anticipated for the paving of the alternative road. We express our heartfelt gratitude to Blanket Mine,” said Mr Kananji.

He further expressed concern about the current situation in the community. He cited an increase in criminal activities and the destruction of public infrastructure.

He also mentioned the emergence of machete gangs, which has led to a surge in robberies and theft.

This has created an environment of insecurity, which requires urgent attention and intervention.

The local mine is not equipped to handle these challenges alone.

Mr Kananji, humbly requested support t from the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), to help address the issue and restore peace and order in the community, something they have  already started working on with policing authorities.

“There are widespread criminal activities around, and people are recklessly destroying infrastructure and machete gangs are starting to emerge within the community, robberies and theft have been uncontrollably increasing. This is creating an unsafe environment and a hot spot where crime seems legal.

“Our local security is not adequately equipped or capacitated to take care of these issues, so we would need support from ZRP and related bodies to continue and help curb the increasing crime activities,” implored Mr Kananji.

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