The Sunday News
Tinomuda Chakanyuka Sunday News Reporter
INFRASTRUCTURE at Chireya Business Centre, including Chireya Mission Hospital, Chireya primary and high schools in Gokwe North district, is at risk of destruction from a deep and fast developing gully, a recent visit to the district showed. Chireya Business Centre is the second largest business centre in the district after Nembudziya, while the Roman Catholic-run hospital is also the second largest health institution in the district, servicing a catchment of close to 26 000 people.
The two schools also under threat have a combined enrolment of about 1 500 pupils.
Sunday News visited the area recently and spoke to villagers who are already engaged in efforts to rehabilitate the gully which started developing in 1993 from Ume River.
Ume River is on the North West side of the mission hospital and with the gulley developing around the health institution, fears are that the hospital might soon be isolated from main land, before the gully moves to destroy buildings at the hospital.
According to a report by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA), the 612 metre long gully which has three heads and five fingers, and measures five metres deep and three metres wide, is developing at an alarming rate of six metres per year.
One of the gully heads has moved within 20 metres of the nearest building at the hospital and has already damaged the perimeter fence around the health facility.
The other head is advancing towards the business centre and is only about four metres from the nearest shop. It has also damaged part the road which links the hospital and the business centre where there are more than 50 shops.
“The rate at which the gully is developing is quite worrying. Such gullies are common here but what is worrying about this one is that it is now threatening to destroy buildings. Urgent action has to be taken,” said Mr Esau Ntini of Kaparapashe Village in Chireya.
Villagers, working with EMA and other stakeholders have come up with a gully reclamation committee which is spearheading rehabilitation of the gully.
Chief Chireya who heads the committee said: “That gully has to be reclaimed without fail and the community is well aware of that. We are working with EMA and the district administrator to come up with a lasting solution to the gully problem.
“We have made gabions and sometimes we put tree branches into the gully as a way of slowing down its rate of expansion, while we wait for authorities to come up with more technical strategies and solutions.”
Gokwe North District Administrator Mr Fortune Mupungu said funds for the reclamation of the gully had been secured through the Hwange Sanyati Biological Corridor Project which was launched in Hwange last month.
He said preparatory work for the rehabilitation of the gully was underway with actual rehabilitation work expected to start before the end of this month.
The Hwange Sanyati Biological Corridor Project is aimed at addressing environmental challenges in the north western parts of the country and is being funded by the Global Environmental Facility to the tune of $6,4 million over the next five years.
EMA’s Midlands provincial education and publicity officer Mr Timothy Nyoka said Gokwe North district had sodic soils which were inherently unstable and prone to erosion resulting in gullies developing regularly.
He also attributed the development of gullies to construction activity and cultivation along water ways and the use of sleighs.
“The terrain and type of soils in Gokwe North is bad, making the area more prone to severe sheet and gully erosion. We have engaged communities to educate them on the importance of taking care of their environment because activities such as deforestation, plough and sleigh pulling also contribute to the formation of sinkholes.
“So if communities desist from such practices that would be the first step towards preventing such situations as the one we are facing now,” he said.
In Gokwe South district where Gokwe town is situated, the magistrates’ court building, Government complex, Zesa offices, other buildings are also under threat from four gullies that have emerged in the town.
One of the sink-holes has already cut into the road from Gokwe South District Hospital to Gokwe town centre, forcing council to close the road.
