The Sunday News
Vincent Gono
DEVELOPMENT projects initiated by the late Vice-President Dr Joshua Nkomo who seem to have been the architect of beneficiation and value addition crusade that the country is running with now have for a good number of years that count into decades and centuries remained a pipedream while some have slowly but surely turned into
white elephants.
This is despite the fact that the projects were strategically economic and strategic in their location and sought to stretch and unravel the great economic potential that the country has that the late Father Zimbabwe had realised.
He should be hallowed not only for the part he played in liberating the country and bringing the country’s tribes at peace with each other but for his selflessness as he always looked at the greater national good — the broader picture at the very expense of his person and his ego as one of the founders of the revolution.
He was indeed among the men who gave the Zimbabweans the unity and the freedom and true to his famous words that if one wants money they should be prepared to work on the land.
“Nxa lifuna imali, phendulelani ibala elithi mali, lithi lima,” he would say. Although he died just a year shy of the beginning of the land reform, Dr Nkomo was indeed one man who wanted to see land being given to the black majority and his projects all point to that grand vision.
Worrying though is the fact that most of his projects suffered a stillbirth following his death. The generation that followed failed to take up, sanctify and make his dream come true with only a handful of politicians looking concerned.
There is no doubt however, that had he been alive today the country at large would have been different given his vision of empowering the communities through the projects that he had single handedly initiated across the country’s provinces.
He was a national leader who was not restricted by regional boundaries but he knew too well that he was Zimbabwean before anything else and therefore even his tribe could not contain him as his vision cut across trivial tribal and regional politics.
This begs the question on why his death also witnessed the demise and decadence of almost all the projects that he initiated together with other surviving politicians for a better region and a better Zimbabwe.
The belief among the ordinary people is that some of the projects have been taken as campaign tools hence their completion would not be a move in the right direction for some impish politicians in the region whose political game plan borders on the continued talk of various incomplete projects.
To them any move towards completion of the projects would greatly disturb their political strategy that is tailor-made to ensure they retain their political pole positions, gold coat their political thrones and seal their gains.
All this is done at the expense of the spirit of nationalism and as a betrayal of the spirit of development politics that the visionary Father Zimbabwe worked all his time to instil to the people whose lives he touched.
Greedy, personal political grandstanding and the desire to court political controversy and cheap publicity are part of the recipe of such political thinking where precedence is given to personal enrichment ahead of national development.
Projects such as the National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (NMZWP), Gwayi – Shangani Dam, Mtshabezi pipeline project, Ekusileni Medical Centre, Esigodini and Norton tomato puree canning plant, timber logging in Muzarabani, Tea and coffee project in Vumba and a mining project in Penhalonga and other Development Trust of Zimbabwe (DTZ) projects in the country have been moving at a snail’s pace while some have been lying dormant due to various political and economic factors.
A few of the political leaders in the region seem to care about the projects that were left as a constant reminder of the development thrust and vision of Dr Nkomo despite that they all enjoy being associated with him. They seem to be singing from a different hymn book and different stanza to the developmental vision of Dr Nkomo while some do not even want to talk about the projects.
Most of the projects seem to have been neglected and the question is whether there is some corrupt political conspiratorial crusade to destroy all what was built by Umdala Wethu as well as destroying his legacy or whether the current crop of politicians have no capacity whatsoever to push for completion of the projects.
One would assume however, that it should be easy to push for the completion of the incomplete projects and opening of those that are complete using the name that everyone in the political circle knows and respect — a name that contributed so much to the liberation and unity of the country.
Politicians in the region said the problems affecting most of the projects that were initiated by Dr Nkomo were both economic and political in nature. They said political bungling was to blame for retarding and disturbing the pace of most of the projects before his death.
Minister of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises Development who was the Minister of State in Dr Nkomo’s office Cde Sithembiso Nyoni chronicled in an interview with this paper how most of the developmental projects were started and their objectives.
She most of the projects have a national outlook and were a direct response to the concerns of the ordinary people of Zimbabwe and meant to benefit the entire population and poor communities.
Minister Nyoni said Dr Nkomo’s projects were not regional but national as the Development Trust of Zimbabwe (DTZ) established projects in Masvingo Province in the Nuanetsi Ranch of Mwenezi district, a coffee plantation in the Vumba area in Manicaland Province and another Tomato Puree project in Norton and a mining project in Penhalonga.
The Tomato Puree plants were established in Norton and another in Esigodini. The idea was to produce tomatoes and process them for the local market and for export.
The Esigodini plant had it been a success was also going to produce mangoes, peaches, guavas and even lemon puree after the realization that the fruits were abundant and were rotting when people could make money out of them.
Minister Nyoni said her ministry was working to ensure the taking up of the project and bring to fruition the late Father Zimbabwe’s dream and vision. She said the Esigodini project was also going to see the development of a big irrigation scheme for large scale production of tomatoes where water was going to come from Mtshabezi dam.
She said the project in the Nuanetsi Ranch in Mwenezi was meant to promote livestock and crop production as well as improve the livelihood of the communities that borders the ranch.
Minister Nyoni said the project thrived during the early years and was greatly affected by the drought that hit the country in the early 90s where most of the cattle in the ranch succumbed to the drought.
“I remember very well that most of the projects were started when I was working as Minister of State in his office. He had a national vision and he was already looking at beneficiation and value addition. He used to sit with President Mugabe and share notes. I would say the two were great men with a great national development vision which they used to share so much.
“You would notice that the value addition crusade that the country is pursuing now was already in Dr Nkomo’s vision when he initiated the Esigodini and Norton tomato puree plants as well as the tea and coffee in Manicaland. His vision was to set the processing equipment so that we value add and not export the tea, coffee, tomatoes and other fruits in their raw form.
“The projects were supposed to benefit the communities in those areas. So what he would do was to identify the abundant resource in an area and support the communities to get something out of the resources that would transform their lives,” she said.
On the Nuanetsi Ranch she said there were enough cattle and they used to send bulls to the communities that surround the ranch for cross breeding so that poor communities improve on their breeds after it was realized that the area was part of a fertile cattle breeding region.
“The other idea that Dr Nkomo had was to promote small-scale sugarcane growing so that the communities will compete with bigger sugarcane producers such as the ones that are in Chiredzi. The thrust however was that the communities should benefit no-matter how poor they were so that they transform their lives and aid to the national economic development discourse.
“There is a big investor that we partnered with but he diverted the state of the whole project. The initial objectives of the project were therefore frustrated. The communities are no longer benefiting as they are supposed to. It is almost a private business venture now. That is not the initial objective and so is the story with many other projects but the best person to comment on that is Cde Simon Khaya Moyo who is the chairman of DTZ,” she said.
Cde Khaya Moyo however said he was setting an appointment with the President Cde Mugabe who is the patron of DTZ to discuss some of the issues.
It is however understood that at one time DTZ entered into a partnership with some Russians who were mining gold in Penhalonga where they were producing an average of 30 kg.
Sadly however almost three quarters of the projects that were implemented by the late Dr Nkomo were not fully functional or have completely ceased operations. Most of the work done by the late Father Zimbabwe was being neglected at the expense of the poor communities who were initially excited about the projects that were aimed at improving their standards of living.
The Norton plant was some years ago up and running but the Esigodini one never took off despite the importation of expensive equipment from Italy that was gathering dust and rust at the ARDA Balu Estate in Umguza for more than 15 years now.
Minister Nyoni said they were now in the process of reviving or resuscitating the project although part of the equipment was broken up and needed spare parts. Some of the equipment sourced by Dr Nkomo for timber logging operations in Matabeleland North was auctioned by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) on allegations that DTZ had failed to pay customs duty.
The now National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project is one other project that the late Vice-President became an important part of but despite several strides having been made to get water from Zambezi to the drought prone region, the project has remained a pipedream and an illusion to those who worked to realize its fruits.
It is sad that almost a century now the project has only taken shape on paper while on the ground there is little to show seriousness in the implementation of the giant project that will also see the establishment of a greenbelt where a good number of communities will benefit from irrigation.
On Ekusileni Medical Centre she said it was a brilliant idea that had taken too long to complete. She said the concept was to establish as state of the art diagnostic centre with all the modern medical equipment where even people from the countryside were to get treatment without paying an exorbitant fee.
Minister Nyoni said it was sad that the centre had become a white elephant.
Cde Naison Kutswekhaya Ndlovu once told this publication that it was pathetic that most of the projects that were initiated by Dr Nkomo did not translate into his vision and what he stood for. He said there were certain politicians in the region who have ran away with Dr Nkomo’s projects to seek personal glory.
Cde Ndlovu said the politicians have taken away the projects from the Government yet they have no capacity to work on their completion.
“It is sad that we cannot talk of the projects as a success. Most of his projects are not a success story that depicts the true picture of his stature. It is unfortunate. The people who he worked with on several projects have no capacity to continue while some got frustrated and ignored some of the big national and regional projects.
“There are some politicians who for certain reasons have decided to run away with the projects hoping to seek personal political glory but could not add value to the projects. It is very sad indeed and everyone who worked with Dr Nkomo and who appreciates his vision should be worried,” he said.
He added that Dr Nkomo was a visionary who sourced the funds and most of the equipment for Ekusileni specialist hospital but the project had been plagued by problems that have for many years stalled its opening.
The challenge is on the leadership to stop bickering and ensure the vision of the late nationalist for a better Zimbabwe is realized before they are haunted by the many lives that are lost because they have no capacity like them to pull together resources to seek specialist medical attention in other countries.
