The Sunday News
Munyaradzi Musiiwa Sunday News Reporter
LEADERSHIP philanthropy has always been categorised as reputation seeking thereby shrouding the logic of charity or goodwill in all charity work or developmental projects that our leaders in society embark on. Consequently, many leaders have fallen prey to this notion and failed to live up to their role of being influencers which is characteristic of most leaders in high offices.
The act of giving to the underprivileged or developing one’s local community is motivated by the desire to influence others to make similar acts of giving back to the society, especially to the less privileged members.
Gokwe-Kana legislator Cde Owen Ncube also known as Mudhara Mugabe or simply “Mudha” in the political circles has not seen the opportunity of being a member of parliament as one to enrich himself and amass wealth at the expense of the electorate.
Being a member of parliament has unveiled the philanthropic and warm-hearted side of the man many people knew to be a no-nonsense man and tough when it comes to implementing the party ideologies, principles and policies.
His vigilance and vigorousness earned him the nickname “Touch-Bomber” among Zanu PF youth in the Midlands Province and has also endeared him with senior party officials such as Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Cde Ncube has taken heed of President Mugabe to go back to the electorate and fulfill the promises the revolutionary party made in the run-up to the 2013 harmonised elections.
He has embarked on a plethora of empowerment programmes that include setting up welding workshops at each shopping and business centre in his constituency to help the youth to prosper and create employment in rural communities.
Cde Ncube has set up bakeries in rural communities to keep rural women occupied and to enable them to fend for their families and raise school fees as well as ensuring food security at household level as a partial fulfillment of the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim Asset).
He has distributed sewing machines in each village in his constituency to also help underprivileged women.
He also helps his constituency with basic commodities that are scarce in rural areas.
Cde Ncube is also cognisant of the importance of education in Zimbabwe and has started assisting some rural schools to build classroom blocks and is issuing books and stationery.
He has donated building material in schools worth over $50 000 and helped in the electrification of close to 10 schools and three clinics.
He also helped in the construction of Mkoka, Musala and Marapira clinics and bought building material and asbestos worth over $15 000 for Katema Clinic which is strategically positioned.
Katema services over 6 000 households in Gokwe.
A villager, Mrs Evangelista Mupondi, said villagers used to walk over 20 kilometres to access health facilities and sometimes pregnant women gave birth either at home or on their way to hospital due to the inaccessibility of health facilities.
“The problem we had was we are situated between two rivers and in summer or during the rain season people would die without seeking medical attention due to inaccessibility of health facilities. Pregnant women would sometimes die giving birth because there won’t be experienced midwives to assist them deliver. Our MP has really extricated us from this predicament because we were failing to access medical facilities,” she said.
Headman Josiah Katema said since 1980 they never had a clinic until Cde Ncube brought the idea.
“Some of the MPs whom we used to vote for never used to come back to the electorate to fulfill their promises. Cde Ncube has helped our community to have access to health facilities and has helped in the renovation and construction of new blocks at Katema primary school. He has also pledged to help us construct a secondary school. Our children are walking over 20km to school and this makes our little girls vulnerable and prone to abuse. Some have dropped out of school,” he said.
Chief Jiri concurred saying Cde Ncube was also making schools and other places in Gokwe accessible by maintaining and constructing new roads.
“We can now access clinics and other shopping centres because he is maintaining roads and constructing new ones to ensure that we access other facilities and basic commodities from big business centres like Manoti,” he said.
Cde Ncube has bought 10 000 litres of diesel and hired a Zinara grader to construct over 100 km of gravel road connecting Manoti and other small shopping centres in Gokwe.
He is also constructing roads accessing clinics and schools from inaccessible areas to curb perennial transport woes that have bedevilled Gokwe Kana since time immemorial.
Chief Musala said Cde Ncube was the first MP since independence to fulfill election campaign promises.
“In 2018 we are going to vote knowing that our vote is worth something because the people we choose to represent us have the people at heart and attend to our problems and try to address them to the best of their ability,” he said.
MP Ncube has also sunk over 20 boreholes and repaired over 40 boreholes ensuring access to clean water.
MP Ncube urged fellow legislators to stop sloganeering and go back to the electorate and fulfill the promises made during the election campaigns.
“As Zanu-PF we should walk the talk. The purpose and supposed role of an MP is to mobilise resources to develop their constituencies and complement Government effort to rebuild the economy and transform the lives of the people, particularly in the rural areas.
“We do understand that we could gradually recover as a country and the money that we have might not be adequate to adequately attend to some of the general concerns and priorities of the people.
“It is the duty of an MP to see to it that his constituency is uplifted and developed with the few available resources that they can mobilise,” he said.
Cde Ncube said Zanu-PF had the people at heart and had empowered people through the land reform and indigenisation programmes.
He said those that benefited must also properly use the land and companies they got to empower fellow countrymen.
