Govt abandons complex in Siakobvu
By Nhau Mangirazi
SIAKOBVU — An incomplete government complex, just about 100 metres away from council offices, is crying out for attention here, exposing the neglect suffered by remote communities.
The building was meant to house all government departments in Siakobvu, which is about 210 kilometres west of Karoi or over 400 kilometres from the capital, Harare.
The structure was abandoned in 2003 while still at window level because contractors could not continue due to lack of funds.
This reporter had an opportunity to tour the complex recently, accompanied by Isaac Mackenzie, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kariba, which covers Siakobvu.
Mackenzie won the seat on the ruling ZANU-PF party ticket.
In the 2008 elections, the constituency was under Cleopas Machacha of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) led by Morgan Tsvangirai.
We are ushered into the complex by a security guard who looked unhappy to keep an eye over a project that looks abandoned and probably forgotten.
Inside the fenced complex are small heaps of sand being washed flat with each rainy season. Some window frames and iron materials are piled up at one end of the complex.
While in the building, we came across a baobab tree that has miraculously grown from the foundation. It now obscures part of the complex, abandoned at window level.
The guard led us to a room that has 91 tattered bags of cement, which have since dried up. Mackenzie could not hide his dejection and frustration.
The majority of Tonga speaking people here believe government failed to complete the building in order to fix them for voting for the MDC’s Machacha in 2008 because ever since then the ZANU-PF government has neglected them.
When Mackenzie was elected MP in 2013, he embarked on a mission to get government to prioritise the project.
He has so far drawn blanks.
In one of the question and answer sessions in Parliament, he asked the then minister of local government, Ignatius Chombo, when government planned to complete the project.
Chombo said government had failed to complete the structure due to lack of funds.
Mackenzie is now pleading with government to allow private players to finish the project and recover their investment by renting it out.
“We cannot just say the government has no money and leave this project to rot and collapse. It is unfortunate Nyaminyami has never been one of government’s priorities,” said Mackenzie.
Except for the Registrar-General’s office which issues out birth and death registration, there are no other government services at Siakobvu and villagers have to travel all the way to Kariba, more than 300km away via Karoi, for critical but basic government services.
A former teacher Steven Simpambili of Negande area said: “Most of us cannot afford to travel to Kariba and apply for teaching posts which is why non-Tonga-speaking teachers have come here in droves.”
A health worker who spoke on condition that he was not named blamed failure by government to complete the building at Siakobvu on lack of commitment.
“Health, for instance, is a basic human right but, unfortunately, we are not in government plans on these matters,” he said dejectedly. Financial Gazette
