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Pamela Shumba Senior Reporter
THE Minister of State for Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs Cde Cain Mathema will relocate from Bulawayo to his province once water supplies to his Lupane offices have been restored, Vice President Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa has said.Cde Mathema, who was appointed as Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs Minister in 2013, is operating from Mhlahlandlela Government Complex in Bulawayo.

VP Mnangagwa said the minister would eventually relocate to Lupane while responding to Parliamentarians who were questioning why Mathema was working from Bulawayo yet he has offices in his province.

“When the former Governor was there, Cde Thokozile Mathuthu, both electricity and water were available but there was a break-down of water supply which is now under repair. I don’t think anybody here would wish to have a Minister of State for Provincial Affairs occupying buildings where there is no water supply,” said Cde Mnangagwa.

He said Cde Mathema would occupy his offices in Lupane as soon as they are ready for use.

“Lupane is still under construction and the person who should know whether the offices are now suitable and functional is the person who uses them and not the person who observes from outside,” said VP Mnangagwa.

“In this particular case, the Minister for Provincial Affairs for Matabeleland North will use those offices when they become functional.”

He added that the government, through the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing was working to restore water at the minister’s premises.

“We’ve just created Lupane as (the provincial) headquarters and everything is being done by the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing to supply water there. During Cde Mathuthu’s tenure, it was a mere borehole which she was using which also broke down. The Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate is piping water into Lupane in order for it to be properly developed as a provincial headquarters,” said VP Mnangagwa.

The government has in over a decade initiated several construction projects in the provincial capital, in an initiative that seeks to improve people’s lives in the drought prone area.

Some of the projects include the construction of the Lupane State University, a government office complex, a provincial hospital and a dam.

Concern has, however, been raised over the slow pace of development in Lupane, which was declared a provincial capital for Matabeleland North in 1999.

Some government departments have since relocated from Bulawayo and Hwange to Lupane.