San people’s day in the sun
FIRST Lady Auxilia Mnangagwa yesterday visited the country’s most marginalised community, the San people, in Plumtree and urged Government to uplift their lives.
She said she was disheartened to see the San people living in squalid conditions.
At one homestead, the First Lady could not believe a family of 12 lives in a single hut.
The San community, popularly known as the bushmen, live in Makhulela area, Thwayithwayi village in Bulilima district.
The First Lady noted that the problems faced by the San people were similar to those encountered by the Doma people in Kanyemba.
The San people do not go to school.
They also do not have identity documents.
“What I have seen here is not so different with what I saw in Kanyemba. Their standards of living are the same,” she said.
“They do not have anything and they urgently need help. Ndanga ndichikumbira kana zvichibvira kuti maministries anechekuita nekurarama kwevanhu nekubatsira, anochera maboreholes nekugadzirwa kwemigwagwa, social welfare nekuti kana chikafu chaicho hakuna. I am pleading with them to visit these areas, Thwayithwayi village and Kanyemba and map a way forward.”
The village head, Mrs Matjena Ncube, who took the First Lady around the community showing her their way of living, said ever since they were taken out of the bush in 1993, it was their first time to be visited by someone from a higher office or anyone who is not of their tribe.
“Shuviro yangu neshungu dzangu zvinobvirawo zvekare kuti mukukura kwandakaita ndakakura hupenyu hwakafanana naihwohwu, so I wish to assist others in similar conditions for them to have a better life. Dai Mwari vandibatsira ku tiz van di rik ushuv ira kuita va pin dire kuti pave neshanduko mukurarama kwevanhu vakaita seava,” said the First Lady.
Mrs Ncube told the First Lady they were no schools, health care facilities and were living in an arid area and require irrigation schemes.
The First Lady later visited the Sibanda homestead where a small hut is the only structure in the yard.
The solitary hut houses eight people — an elderly Tjipabi Sibanda, her two daughters, three sons and two grandchildren.
The First Lady handed over a borehole for use by the community.
“I have come to interact with you as a mother, daughter and granddaughter so that I get to know you and your way of living so that I will know how best I can assist you,” she said.
“I have noticed that a lot needs to be done here kuti magariro enyu afananane neevamwe vese. I do not want you to live in isolation. You must interact with others.”
The First Lady encouraged women to start projects like gardening.
She urged the San women to desist from giving birth at home and utilise the health facilities.
The First Lady came with a medical team from the Ministry of Health and Child Care who conducted medical check-ups.
She donated groceries, clothing, blankets, books and toys for the children. The community thanked the First Lady for her kindness and love.
◆
THE National Youth Service is in line with the African Youth Charter and the Southern African Development Community framework, as well as vision 2030, a Government minister has said.
Officiating at a graduation ceremony of 320 National Youth Service cadres at Dadaya Training Centre over the weekend, Midlands Minister of State for Provincial Affairs Owen Ncube said instilling a sense of patriotism in the youths was a necessity.
The graduates who comprised of 100 females and 230 males were drawn from the county’s ten provinces.
“The National Youth Service programme, ladies and gentlemen, is a programme whose mandate of youth development is not unique to Zimbabwe, but is in line with international, continental, regional and domestic policies and provisions such as the African Youth Charter, the Southern Africa Development Community Youth Development Framework, the Constitution of Zimbabwe, the National Youth Policy, and the Vision 2030.
“Instilling discipline and a sense of patriotism in our youth has been one of the milestones of the new dispensation,” he said. Minister Ncube said the National Youth Service training has four key components, namely: national orientation, physical education, entrepreneurship and community/industrial attachment.
“The first month was for in-camp training in which national orientation which comprises national values, morals, youth obligations, responsibilities and rights are fused, entrepreneurship and physical education lessons, with a bias towards discipline, were taught,” he said.
Minister Ncube said during their training programme, the youths were involved in community work including the construction of an early childhood development centre at Oreti Primary School in Zvishavane, saving the school about $1 150 in labour costs.
“The youths were engaged in the local communities where they spent two weeks carrying out voluntary works at schools and the chief’s homestead. They fenced Ndinaneni Primary School, dug garbage pits and started a market gardening project for the school. This saw the school saving $1 000 in labour costs. A total cost of $2 500 was saved,” he said