Consistent representation breathes life into Gokwe Central constituency
WHEN one talks of Gokwe District in the Midlands Province to a stranger, they get a gloomy picture of a remote rural area divorced from civilisation where there are no passable roads, no clinics, schools and other social amenities that complete the basic human development circle.
Yes, previously it was like that but in recent years and due to the constant representation on issues to do with development it is no longer that backward.
National Assembly members such as Honourable Dorothy Mhangami of Gokwe Central have continued raising their voices on development. She is a hands-on person who has been in constant touch with the grassroots.
Perhaps the vast experience she gained during her years in the civil service where she spent more than 20 years, gave her the leverage and much-needed skills of lending an ear before designing a solution.
Hon Mhangami was a district development officer in the Ministry of Youth and Women Affairs before she resigned and got into politics. Her hard work has transformed Gokwe from a belittled and undermined area into one of the fastest growing and developing place with a vision of it getting municipality status by 2025.
Prior to the granting of the Constituency Development Funds (CDF) she has been
Ever the brave intellectual and political risktaker, Ali Mazrui hazarded six ways of measuring state fragility and ultimately failure. Western scholars such as Rotberg have done their own matrices of measuring state fragility and failure in the Global South. Those matrices, in the main, are dubious and suspicious as they conceal the coloniality of the origins and purposes of the state in the first place. Without recognising and acknowledging the original sin and foundational crimes of the state, its coloniality and imperiality, one cannot offer a decolonial critique of the state in the Global South. One can only offer racist judgements and one-eyed perspectives of the problem. The ten-eyed Mazrui spelt out what a successful state does as his way of pointing channelling her personal funds towards development projects in the town. Following what she termed Needs Analysis, Honourable Mhangami said she was working hand in glove with councillors to come up with priorities for each ward.
From the time she defeated MDC-T’s Linnet Ganayani in the 2008, health delivery system has always topped her list of priorities. She has so far facilitated the construction of clinics in her 10 wards.
Ms Roselyn Kugarisana of Mafungautsi says Honourable Mhangami is a mother figure and plays a motherly role in the area.
“She has been there for the Gokwe woman, we have various projects that she facilitated, some that are complete and some are still underway. Right now we are doing backing and food preservation projects where we are being taught how to preserve food like tomatoes, guavas and vegetables for future use,” said Ms Kugarisana.
Mr Robert Nduna of Nyaradzo said Hon Mhangami played a critical role in the development of the area.
“She definitely deserves another term, she has facilitated the construction of dip tanks for our livestock. She is not like other legislators who disappear soon after we vote them into power, she is always available to listen to people’s problems and that is her strongest strength,” said Mr Nduna.
And Hon Mhangami says her ability to lend an ear to the people’s problems at all levels is her powerful tool.
“I am always available for the people, whenever they want me they find me available, I think that is how I am different from other legislators who spend most of their time globetrotting,” she said
“I have ten wards in my constituency, and six of them are peri-urban where people had to travel long distances to access health facilities at Gokwe District Hospital. I have decided to build clinics for the people in each ward so that they easily access health facilities,” she said.
Nyaradza Clinic was the first to be completed and is already operating with three nurses manning the facility while four other clinics are at various levels of construction.
“We are in the process of building a house for the nurses as currently they are being housed in Nyaradza where they have to walk a uncomfortable distances to work. We are in the process of rectifying that,” she said.
Another clinic is almost complete at Ndlalambi and material have since been purchased for the construction of Gavave Clinic.
Two more are earmarked for Mafungautsi and Mbumbusi areas. In line with the thrust of improving health service delivery, Honourable Mhangami has also facilitated for the connection of clean and taped water to some clinics and schools.
“We facilitated water connections that charge normal charges. We also connected a community water tap for 1 000 Mafungaustsi residents,” she explained.
Boreholes and more than six protected wells were also sunk in the constituency to ensure the precious liquid is in adequate supply. Classroom blocks at Ngondoma Primary, Mbumbuzi Primary and Charama Primary that were constructed simply goes on to show how serious she was in terms of development.
“It really troubles me to see children learning under a tree. So I always try to improve the life of the young ones by creating a conducive learning environment hence the construction of these classroom blocks,” she said. In a rural set-up like Gokwe, cattle are a symbol of wealth, and the building of dip tanks was a step in the right direction as farmers want their livestock to be well taken care of.
“They approached me and said MP we want our cattle safe, can you facilitate that we get dip tanks so that we keep our wealth away from diseases and I said why not. There are two dip tanks at least in each ward as a result,” she said.
Women have been empowered also through the Food Processing Value Addition and Beneficiation training course which saw women being trained in using available resources to maximise food security.
“The training benefited more than 40 people, not only women though. I targeted women, civil servants and individuals. The thrust is to use available resources to earn a living,” said Hon Mhangami.
The training encompasses making tomato jam, chilli tomato, packaging of vegetables and preservation methods as well as making pizza using a homemade oven.
Hon Mhangami feels she deserves another dance in Parliament so that she could complete he projects.
“Definitely, I want another term so that I complete ongoing projects, I have already submitted my CV and I have no doubt I am coming out victorious,” she said.