George Maponga Masvingo Bureau
The ruling Zanu-PF in Masvingo will tomorrow start holding party inter-district meetings to take stock of progress made in implementing the Government’s Command Agriculture Scheme. This comes as the the province gears to become the country’s food security hub using water from the recently commissioned Tokwe-Mukosi Dam in Chivi.
Masvingo is angling to introduce Command Irrigation tapping abundant water from the two billion cubic metre capacity dam that has potential to irrigate over 25 000 hectares.
Zimbabwe’s largest inland dam was last week commissioned by President Mugabe, amid jubilation and high expectations that Masvingo was poised to shed its basket case tag and become the country’s breadbasket through irrigation.
Zanu-PF Masvingo provincial chairman Cde Ezra Chadzamira (pictured) yesterday said beginning tomorrow, the ruling party leadership in the province would hold party inter-district meetings with leaders of lower tiers of the party to discuss the Command Agriculture scheme.
Cde Chadzamira said the first leg of the outreach meetings, set to cover the whole province, would be in Chiredzi and Zaka districts.
‘’The whole provincial leadership of the party, including Politburo members led by Secretary for Production and Labour and Masvingo Provincial Affairs Minister Senator Shuvai Mahofa and other senior leaders will be on the ground meeting leaders of our party structures to discuss the success and failures together with lessons from the Command Agriculture Scheme,’’ he said.
‘’We want to explain to our lower-tier leaders what the Command Agriculture Scheme entails and also get feedback from the grassroots on areas that need improvement under the scheme, as we prepare to fully implement Command Irrigation at Tokwe-Mukosi Dam.’’
Cde Chadzamira said after covering Chiredzi and Zaka this weekend, the provincial leadership would take the programme to the remaining districts in the coming weeks.
He said the provincial leaders would discuss how people could draw maximum benefits from the $1,3 billion projects launched by the President at Chaka Business Centre in Chirumhanzu and Tokwe-Mukosi Dam in Chivi.
“We are starting mobilisation for the 2018 harmonised elections and we want our people on the ground to understand that there are new and exciting opportunities in the province because of the $1 billion Harare-Beitbridge Highway dualisation and the recently completed Tokwe-Mukosi Dam,’’ said Cde Chadzamira.
He said the Zanu-PF leadership in Masvingo wanted to unpack the full range of benefits for the ordinary people of Masvingo, now that the Tokwe-Mukosi Dam was completed.
Preliminary estimates indicate that more than 26 000 irrigable plots would be opened in southern Masvingo with the coming on board of Tokwe-Mukosi Dam.
The dam also offers opportunities for a vibrant fisheries industry, with over 20 000 applications for fishing licences having already been submitted to authorities by individuals and companies.
As for the Harare-Beitbridge Highway dualisation, the project will create more than 300 000 jobs, with most of the beneficiaries expected to be drawn from Masvingo province, which houses the bigger stretch of the highway.
Cde Chadzamira said the Zanu-PF leadership in Masvingo wanted to preach unity to grass roots structures, saying factionalism had no room in the party in the province.