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Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief
MBERENGWA Rural District Council has purchased a borehole drilling rig and a grader for $68 million using devolution funds from the Government.

The rig will be used to drill boreholes in villages and business centres to provide people with water while the grader will be used to rehabilitate of roads to improve the transport network.

These are just two of the latest developments by Mberengwa RDC, which are changing lives for the people at Mberengwa Centre, Mataga Growth Point and in villages across the district.

Decentralisation has been the buzzword in Zimbabwe since the New Dispensation under President Mnangagwa indicated that it would walk a path of devolution.

What is special about decentralisation is that it brings the decision-making process closer to communities who know the areas that require immediate attention for a quick turnaround.

Acting Mberengwa RDC chief executive officer Mr Percy Mwedzi said the drilling rig was already with the RDC while the grader was on its way.

“I am proud to announce that the devolution agenda is taking shape in Mberengwa through various devolution projects that we are undertaking.

Talking of the $68 million allocation we received last year, we managed to purchase a drilling rig that has already been delivered at a cost of $52 million and the grader at a cost of $16 million. The grader is on its way and we are waiting for its delivery,” he said.

He said the local authority was still waiting for the disbursement of this year’s chunk of the devolution funds from the Central Bank.

From 2019, Mberengwa RDC has received more than $300 million in devolution funds from the Government. Mr Mwedzi said he was also happy to note that two clinics; Marirazhombe in Mberengwa West Constituency District 13 and Bayayi in Mberengwa Constituency East District 20 are nearing completion. The clinics, he said, are now 96 percent complete and were left with a few touch ups.

“We are also grateful to the villagers who provided labour and other locally available materials such as river sand and silver sand for the construction of the clinics.

For example, Bayayi is about 30km from Mataga Growth Point and over 120km from Zvishavane town where there are health centres in case the villagers are in need of medical attention.

So its construction and subsequent opening will come as a relief to villagers, some of whom gave birth at their homesteads after failing to get to a health facility in time,” said Mr Mwedzi.

He said the RDC also bought a 15-tonne dump truck, backhoe loader, tractor and dumper using devolution funds since 2019.

“We also bought a vehicle to effectively and efficiently monitor all of our projects. We also invested the funds in the WASH programme, where we managed to mechanise a well at Mataga Growth Point to alleviate water scarcity. We went further to electrify the currently incomplete water treatment plant at Mundi Mataga Dam,” he said.

Mr Mwedzi said the RDC also renovated six schools and a clinic that had been damaged during the rainy season. He said Madhekwana Clinic in Mberengwa East Constituency, District 8 and Garinyama Clinic in the Mberengwa South Constituency, District 19 are also lined up for construction using devolution funds.

“Our goal is to reduce distances from communities seeking medical attention and improve maternal services to expectant mothers,” he said.

Mr Mwedzi said there is no doubt that devolution with deliberate efforts aimed at empowering communities, has the potential to transform Mberengwa district.

Besides devolution funds, the Government has started a project to rehabilitate roads, among them one that links Mberengwa District offices and West Nicholson in Matabeleland South province.

The Minister of State for Midlands Provincial Affairs and Devolution Larry Mavima said Mberengwa district is endowed with vast mineral resources which should be used to complement the Government’s devolution agenda.

He urged the RDC to implement an effective revenue collection strategy that targets tax contributions from small-scale miners operating in the district to complement the Government’s devolution agenda.

“We should look around and see what our economy is made of. Here in Mberengwa, we are a step further as we have minerals so we should see to it how we can collect revenue from small-scale miners,” he said.