You can only imagine how pretty Mongororo Mazai, the CEO of the Rushinga Rural District Council (RDC), is sitting. “Now devolution funds have made my work easier,” he told Brick by Brick on 25 April. “Before the coming of the Second Republic, we were making some efforts here but they were not helping much because the funds were not enough. Devolution changed all that.”
Today, the main challenge facing the RDC is capitalisation. They want to take advantage of the provision in the devolution funds that allows for the purchase of capital equipment to expedite projects. But Mazai says, “given the numbers and the zeal in the communities, the zeal now is mushrooming, everyone wants projects in their own wards … the authorities should consider giving us capital equipment in addition to the devolution funds”. He spoke to Brick by Brick in his office at Chimhanda growth point. Here are excerpts:
Let me just give you a brief background about Rushinga District. It is made up of 25 wards and a population of 73,000 people. This district is mainly communal, we don’t have any resettlement farms or lands. There are three chiefs in this district, that is Chief Nyakusengwa, Chief Rusambo, and Chief Makuni. There are six headmen who fall under the chiefs.
The main economic activity here is farming – subsistence farming. We also rear goats and other livestock, that’s the major source of income for the people in the district. So it’s crop farming and animal husbandry.
We also have a lot of markets which we have set up to assist our farmers with buyers of livestock. Some of the markets are at Chimhanda here, and also at Bopoma and Bungwe. These are for big animals, but for small livestock we have several other markets.
We also have mines and base metals such as dolomite. We don’t have special minerals like gold, it’s scarce. The main minerals we have here are base metals.
We have quite a number of mines that have been pegged but not operational yet. So we just have three mines that are mining lime. One of them is only packaging and transporting lime. Those are the major activities taking place here in Rushinga.
Before the coming of the Second Republic, we had been building schools and clinics, but our efforts were not prominent until the coming of the Second Republic.
We are very grateful that the Second Republic introduced devolution funds, through which we have managed to build social amenities and clinics. Some of the projects are operational, others are still under construction.
We successfully built a police base in one of the remote areas. The impact of that base has reduced crime and child abuse significantly in the area. Prior to the base, we had the challenge of early child marriages which went unreported, and also child abuse.
We have also managed to put up water and hygiene programmes through devolution funds – quite a number of them. Some are piped water schemes, across a distance of 3-4 km in the communal areas. So I would say that the Second Republic and devolution funds have impacted us here in Rushinga District.
Since we started, we have constructed 12 health posts and two clinics. The health posts are at various levels of completion, but the two clinics are already functioning.
The community is very happy with the efforts made by the Rural District Council. They are very grateful. They are aware of where the money is coming from, so they are very grateful to the Second Republic and the devolution funds.
Now devolution funds have made my work easier. As I told you earlier, before the Second Republic, we were making some efforts here but they were not helping much because the funds were not enough. Devolution changed all that.
The main challenge we are facing now is capitalisation. Of course, there is a provision in the devolution fund that we can buy some equipment so that we expedite projects, but given the numbers and the zeal in the communities, the zeal now is mushrooming, everyone wants projects in their own wards.
We have, therefore, tried to spread the projects across all the 25 wards, so that everyone is covered. But the devolution funds are not always enough or come late, so we are not always able to buy the capital equipment for the wards, such as excavators and rollers, especially for road-making. So, we want to appeal to the authorities to consider giving us capital equipment in addition to the devolution funds.
In terms of schools, so far, we have completed four school blocks. Seven others are under construction. We are also refurbishing some schools because they date back to 1954.
CAPTIONS
Mongororo Mazai, CEO of the Rushinga Rural District Council: “The community is very happy with the efforts made by the Rural District Council. They are very grateful. They are aware of where the money is coming from, so they are very grateful to the Second Republic and the devolution funds”
