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Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, [email protected]

SHE is no ordinary woman.

Her four chidlren are all sucesssful and hold positions in Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Former Bulilima District Development Coordinator, Cde Ethel Moyo retired from her post in 2018 at the age of 65. Her love for development has seen her bouncing back at the age of 70 years to contest as the councillor for Ward 6 in Plumtree under Zanu-PF’s ticket.

Cde Moyo is an educationist with about 20 years in teaching and school administration. She also served as a District Development Coordinator for 13 years, a post which was then referred to as District Administrator.

Cde Moyo has dedicated most of her life towards developing the community and her nation. She said she believes that there is a lot which she can contribute towards developing Plumtree Town given the vast experience she has gained in spearheading development.

Cde Moyo is looking forward to working with the young generation and the elderly in developing the border town.
She said the opportunity to represent the party takes her a step closer to taking a leading role in contributing towards developing the border town.

“I retired as a District Administrator, now known as District Development Coordinator in 2018. While I retired from my post it didn’t mean that I had retired from developing my community and nation.

I’m still keen on serving my country at whatever level is possible. Plumtree Town has a lot of potential and a lot of investment opportunities that have to be tapped into.

I have been in Plumtree for 40 years and there is still a lot of work that has to be done to develop the town,” she said.

“When I’m elected as councillor I want to play a crucial role in securing investors for the town. We need shopping malls, we need hotels, we need recreational centres, we need industries.

“The town handles a lot of traffic from people that will be passing through the border post. Most of these people just pass through because the town doesn’t have services that can attract them. If we work together we can turn Plumtree into a vibrant city.”

Cde Moyo said the development of the town can help address some of the pertinent challenges such as border jumping and unemployment.

She said growth of the town will ensure that locals get jobs locally and also ensure that major services can be accessed locally.

She said there is also a need to expand the town, especially residential areas.
Cde Moyo said community members also have to be encouraged to come on board in development as investors.

She said involvement of the community has helped to bring about significant development in Bulilima District during her tenure as the District Administrator.

“As the District Administrator I was also the Rural District Development Committee chairperson which meant that I had to play a crucial role in coordinating and spearheading development in the district.

Working together with the former Bulilima Rural District Council chief executive officer, Mr John Brown Ncube the district recorded significant development in the form of construction of schools and clinics.

“We managed to motivate and engage community members and members of the diaspora who played a crucial role in mobilising funds to build the infrastructure. In some projects other partners came in with assistance.

We had projects such as Tokwana Clinic, Gampu Clinic among others. Other wards in Bulilima were motivated and also mobilised funds to build schools and clinics,” she said.

Cde Moyo said private public partnerships are crucial in bringing development to communities.
She said development has to be taken seriously at all structures of the community.

“Development is crucial no matter the level where it’s being implemented. A ward is at a lower level than the district but it’s a structure within district.

In order for a district to record success in development it depends on the development taking place at ward level.

The districts feed into the province and the provinces feed into the nation. I will use the experience I gained at district level to feed into the development at ward level,” she said.

In 1984 Cde Moyo joined Dingumuzi Primary School in Plumtree as a teacher for eight years. She was instrumental in initiating development projects at the school during that time.

In 1992 she joined Allan Redfern Primary School in Plumtree and in 1995 she was promoted as headmistress, a position she held for 10 years.

In 2005 she moved to Bulawayo where she worked as a District Administrator for Mzilikazi District. In 2007 she was appointed District Administrator for Bulilima District, a position she held up to her retirement in 2018. —@DubeMatutu