Editor: Some people would argue, with justification, that the creation of the Lupane Local Board as a local authority was premature if not an egregious mistake. Those of us who are closely familiar with the modus operandi, without forgetting the modus vivendi well, will agree that for the 10 years that the incumbent management has been in office there has been no tangible developmental progress. My vocabulary runs out of elasticity to enable me to sufficiently describe what is going on at the Matabeleland North Provincial capital.
Lupane urban is filthy; it is a free for all scenario. There is refuse and rubbish all over the show. Land degradation is intensive and extensive given the limited extent. Vehicles are being driven everywhere even though there are designated roads.
One cannot fault the local authority alone on this one, no. There is no discipline and self-restraint in the community of the town. There is no leadership to assist and complement the efforts of the local authority let alone hold it to account. It takes two to tango otherwise it is not a tango. There is too much ecological pollution in the town. The security department is dysfunctional.
The residents have no leadership. Oh No! Please do not argue with me to the contrary. Some residents talk about being pressure groups and yet they do not know the art of applying pressure on the local authority. In any case leadership is not just about applying pressure, it involves a myriad other thing such as working together with the local authorities. The local authority (LLB) cannot lead a community without a leadership emanating from itself.
The town of Lupane is unique in the negative sense. It was created and dumped and abandoned to the vagaries, corruption, incompetence, malpractice, you name it. Those who created the town sinned against God and will rest eternally in the Hades, the abode of the evil. In addition to the foregoing Lupane town with all its lofty status, probably conferred upon it for political expediency, does not have an economy, not even potential for future development except the construction of residential areas. This is private investment and not public investment.
Not so long ago I listened in great disbelief to the LLB Acting Town Secretary talking about potential for development in the town. He talked about the umkhomo (baobab) fruit as an ingredient of ice cream. He talked about “abundant” teak timber and other irrelevance which he described as potential for investment. The ATS did not research. Maybe he had the mistaken impression that he was addressing creche kids. There is no baobab tree in Lupane town from which to make ice cream; not even in the whole province. There is no teak forestry at the town, please. The Town Secretary was so carried away as to go on to say that Lupane had the best timber in the world. Someone told him a lie and he lapped it up recklessly.
In the district of Lupane KRDC area of jurisdiction, the teak wood is already in short supply. In the province teak wood abounds, or used to abound, in the area of Nyama(ye)Ndlovu at places called Teakland and Sawmills, so called because of the abundant trees. It is a criminal offence for the secretary to say that Lupane has the best furniture in the world. In Zimbabwe more than 80 percent of furniture wood is found in the province of Manicaland just as coffee, tea and avocado pear fruit.
Education is not only good but an asset. I repeat, Lupane town is contaminated, polluted, defiled and abused as if the town is not inhabited by a human community. I just do not cotton on to what is happening. A whole community of thousands of humans cannot think alike as if it is a flock of sheep which reacts to the voice of the shepherd. The LLB, in the decade of its substantive existence has had four town secretaries and several caretakers not excluding the undersigned, of course. In addition to the aforementioned, refuse dumping and land degradation there is also the issue of livestock encroachment notwithstanding the relevant by-laws being in place. The LLB says that they face financial constraints so they cannot employ additional security personnel. This is lying through bared teeth. Almost invariably every week there has to be an officer or even two attending a “workshop” or some function somewhere in the country, spending money which could have been converted into salaries or wages for security staff. The acting town secretary and “his” security officer make a very strange twosome: they both hold the view that Lupane town stands in the way of rural livestock. This is comical to say the least.
In Zimbabwe as in most countries of the world, cities, towns and urban settings stand in between either rural areas or farms. The Acting Town Secretary is supposed to be an environmental technician therefore he should be the right person to keep the town and its environs clean. He has been acting for about 12 months and everything has fallen apart in the town. It is as if there is no security department. The department is redundant.
The local cemetery is a dense bush unfit for the interment of the departed. Normally this should be a protected area with a permanent security detail 24 hours around the clock. EMA must do something and the residents must do something. Thanks very much for cleaning the cemetery recently.
Martin Stobart,
Lupane