SPEAKER of Parliament Jacob Mudenda has attracted brickbats over his alleged silence about underdevelopment in the region after he called on the Transport and Infrastructural Development ministry to erect more tollgates in Matabeleland North.
During a pre-budget seminar held in Bulawayo recently, Mudenda said having more tollgates in Matabeleland North will allow the ministry to raise revenues for road construction works.
He suggested that tollgates between Bulawayo and Hwange be increased to five.
Between Cross-Dete and Binga, he suggested that two tollgates should be erected.
Critics said it was ironic that Mudenda was silent about underdevelopment in Matabeleland yet he was quick to call for more tollgates for the region.
Mthwakazi Republic Party leader, Mqondisi Moyo, said Mudenda has failed to use his platform to speak for the voiceless in his province who continue to live without clean water, functional roads, or economic inclusion.
He said his silence on the Gukurahundi massacres in Matabeleland and the Midlands was a betrayal of both justice and truth.
Moyo said the region needed a comprehensive development framework, equitable infrastructure investment, and fair revenue-sharing from their natural wealth instead of tollgates.
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He said Mudenda's proposal for an increase in toll gates along the Hwange and Binga roads exposed a worrying pattern of selective economic exploitation.
"His proposal, framed as a fundraising initiative highlights a government mindset more focused on extracting money from Matabeleland than developing it," Moyo said.
"It is deeply disheartening that Mudenda, himself from the region, finds comfort in proposing additional tollgates on roads that remain among the poorest in Zimbabwe roads that, for decades, have symbolised both the physical and economic marginalisation of Matabeleland.
“Instead of advocating for genuine infrastructural renewal, he proposes further taxing communities already burdened by poverty, unemployment, and underdevelopment."
He said Matabeleland North was one of Zimbabwe’s richest provinces in natural resources, yet one of the least developed.
"The region boasts vast deposits of coal, methane gas, timber, gold, and numerous other natural resources that have for years been systematically extracted to bankroll the development of Mashonaland and other regions," Moyo said.
"Yet, beyond its mineral wealth, Matabeleland North is home to some of the world’s greatest natural treasures notably the majestic Victoria Falls, a Unesco World Heritage Site and one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, together with the Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe’s largest and most biodiverse wildlife sanctuary."
Educationist and Gukurahundi survivor, Ben Moyo, echoed similar sentiments.
"I think the fewer the toll gates the better, because we even do not know where the money generated by those tollgates is going,” Moyo said.
“I would like to see the devolution of those funds.
“Funds generated by tollgates in a certain province must be ploughed back to that province in full, but right now, the centralisation of the collection and disbursement of funds is not fair.”
Former speaker of Parliament Lovemore Moyo said Mudenda was offside by calling for more tollgates in Matabeleland North.
The Zanu PF secretary general is now the most senior politician from the region.
