Zanu PF party members allegedly hijacked an event held to launch the Midlands chapter of the Hwange Sanyati Biological Corridor (HSBC) project, where they chanted political slogans in front of hundreds of primary and secondary school children in uniforms at Chireya Mission Hospital last Friday.
By Simon Phiri
The event, organised by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) in partnership with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), was to launch a land rehabilitation project in the area sponsored to the tune of $5,6 million by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) through the World Bank.
The HBSC project is a drive to rehabilitate and ensure sustainable management of areas with fragile Kalahari and sodic soils.
Gokwe North acting district administrator, Patricia Mpofu asked the Zanu PF leadership present to be introduced before the event commenced, attributing the successes of the project to the ruling party and its leadership.
Thereafter, Zanu PF stalwarts, including politburo member, Eddison Chakanyuka, took turns to chant party slogans, while the majority of villagers, school children, Chireya Mission medical staff and EMA officials watched.
Midlands Provincial Affairs minister Jason Machaya, currently serving a five-year suspension from the party for allegedly fanning factionalism, was the last to be introduced, as a member of the party and he opted to hail Chireya area only in his slogan, leaving out praises for Zanu PF or its leadership.
Chireya Mission Hospital is the first public institution in the province to benefit from the HSBC project, following commitments by EMA, GEF and WWF to rehabilitate a huge gully which had seen some of the hospital’s structures in danger of collapsing.
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The gully, according to villagers in the area, developed in the early 1990s and has been encroaching the hospital unchecked.
Machaya said the government secured $5,6 million for the successful carrying out of the land rehabilitation project along the Hwange-Sanyati corridor.
He said the aim of the project was to eradicate poverty and help protect the country’s natural resources.
“The interaction between people and the environment is not always in harmony and this has resulted in a degraded landscape with negative impacts on both the environment and people in this region. The government secured a $5,6 million grant from the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) through the World Bank to fund this Hwange Sanyati Biological Corridor (HSBC) project,” Machaya said.
“The thrust of these programmes should primarily be to eradicate poverty as enshrined in the ZimAsset as this specifically relates to sustainable utilisation of natural resources and human development. Together, we should be able to achieve sustainable biodiversity management for the benefit of our people in the corridor and the nation as a whole.”
Areas along the Hwange-Sanyati corridor often experience massive land erosion, particularly during rainy seasons, leading to land degradation and damage to property.
