The Sunday Mail
Bulawayo Bureau
President Mnangagwa will this week have a packed itinerary in Matabeleland North province, where he will be commissioning some of the Second Republic’s signature projects that have impacted the nation.
For years, Matabeleland North was regarded as a marginalised province, where local communities struggled to access basic infrastructure such as hospitals, schools and roads.
However, with the coming in of the Second Republic, the province has seen accelerated development that has brought the once neglected province at par with others in terms of state-of-the-art infrastructure.
To date, 435 projects have been completed, while 234 are under implementation.
The President will kick-start his tour of duty with a star rally at Nkayi Business Centre today.
Tomorrow, he will commission the Muchesu Coking Coal Project in Binga, before officially commissioning Units 7 and 8 at Hwange Thermal Power Station on Thursday.
Muchesu Mine belongs to London Alternative Investment (AIM)-listed miner Contango Holdings and is targeting to produce 20 000 tonnes of washed coking coal a month.
The mining house commenced production recently.
The US$1,4 billion Hwange expansion project is one of the Second Republic’s many flagship projects geared towards improving power generation and supporting the country’s industrialisation and modernisation programme.
The Nkayi Presidential rally will be the first of its kind in the district that gave birth to some of the country’s luminaries, including late national hero Cde Welshman Hadana Mabhena and Cde Lalatshona Ndebele.
The rally is the sixth one in as many weeks after similar ones in Chipinge, Bulilima, Magunje, Zaka and Centenary.
Matabeleland North Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Cde Richard Moyo, who is also the ZANU PF Matabeleland North provincial chairperson, said the province was excited to host the President. He said this week’s events come after Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga, ZANU PF Vice President Cde Kembo Mohadi and the ruling party’s national chairperson Cde Oppah Muchinguri-Kachiri headlined rallies in the province.
“As a province, we are really excited with these events; tomorrow (today), there will be a star rally in Nkayi; then Monday, we will be commissioning Muchesu Mine in Binga, after which, in consultation with the ZANU PF national political commissar, Cde Mike Bimha, we will have a mini rally. Then on Thursday, the President will officially commission the Hwange Thermal Power Station Units 7 and 8 expansion project, after which he will also address a rally at the Colliery Stadium,” he said.
“When the President said no one and no place should be left behind, some detractors just dismissed him but given what he is doing, especially in Matabeleland, we can testify that he is a man of his words.
“Just look at what he has done in Binga; he gave chiefs, youths and women fishing rigs, drilled boreholes for the chiefs, established a nursing school, as well as the Binga Polytechnic, to mention but a few. The Second Republic is also working on the Victoria Falls road and there is now massive development and progress at Lake Gwayi-Shangani, a project that was first mooted in 1912 but no works were done until now,” said Minister Moyo.
