Chronicle of a young female leader tackling community sustainability issues.

By Thandeka Makombe.

Former Mvurwi Town Council Mayoress - Thandeka T Makombe

I am always inspired by a quotation from a great friend of mine Mr. Tony Tendai Manyangadze, which says, ‘A strong man stands up for himself, but a stronger man stands up for others’. The second part of this statement challenges me time and time again to be that stronger person who is willing to stand up for others. I am Thandeka T. Makombe 21 years old born in Mvurwi Zimbabwe. I have always wanted to help other people both young and old but did not know how. All I knew was that I wanted to do something that would give me the opportunity to earnestly help people at any given time, to use facts and reason to arrive at a conclusion and then share that conclusion with the whole world. This is the main reason why it is a great pleasure for me to share with the whole world both good and bad community issues of a small town in Zimbabwe called Mvurwi.

Mvurwi town is an agro-based community which lies some 100 hundred (100) kilometers due North West of Harare (capital city of Zimbabwe) within Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland Central Province with the population of (10 492).

People, I believe, must be held accountable for whatever they do be it good or bad. However, when people do good deeds they are often motivated by the satisfaction of public acknowledgement, and when they do bad they rarely own up to their mistakes. Hats off to the Mvurwi Town Council. The council share all its strengths and weaknesses to its community. It offers private and public services including:

1) Sanitary sewer systems

2) Storm drainage systems

3) Domestic water systems

4) Street cleaning services

5) Solid waste collection services

6) Seamless services to investors

In addition to all of the above the town is composed of sandy soils and patches of loam soils. This is a great advantage to the community people because these soils promote the growth of tall thatch grass which is usually used for thatching. People in the town have found a livelihood in the vending of the thatch grass. The town has five (5) community boreholes with prospects of sinking more to compliment ZINWA efforts in the provision of safe drinking water. It also has good post and telecommunication network.

Under the heritage and tourism sector, Mvurwi town has most of the Shona stone sculptures in Zimbabwe. Being near Tengenenge which is the largest gallery Southern Africa. The town attracts mostly European tourist who come to buy the sculptures. It is also forty (40) kilometers from Nyamanachi Game Park. Mvurwi has got places like Kuvhukwe dam, Kumvura club and Dawson dam, which people can go to for different occasions which includes weddings, workshops, parties, picnics to mention a few.

‘What is meant for us without us is against us’. That is the motto for the youth of the town. Mvurwi town has got a junior council board in which a certain group is elected yearly. Junior council represents the youth and act as a bridge between the community and the youth. It was founded in 2011 and had five(5) members Shingirai Chikazhe (Junior Mayor 2011-12) and is now the president of the National Junior Councils Association, Nigel Goni ( Chief Whip 2011-12) (currently a member of the NJCA and Junior Alderman), Tatenda Phiri (Chief of Committees Cleck 2011-12) (now a member of the NJA and Junior Alderman) , Tanaka Mutsigwa and Thandeka Makombe ( secretary 2011-12, Junior Mayor 2013-14) (currently an Alderman). The first board up to the current one has managed to accomplished many goals for instance the creation of the town park, awareness campaigns ,help out the unfortunate early marriages, in 2014 it helped a 13years old girl who was a victim to sexual abuse from the guardian , donation of text books and raising funds for other vulnerable children’s schools fees after liaising with different nun governmental organizations like SAVE the children, NANGO, Regional Network of Young Peoples Trust, Safaids, National AIDS Council, Kurainashe, Touching Lives Organization, to mention a few.

However there are many community issues or problems which are being faced by the people of Mvurwi. The town has got the highest rate of HIV and AIDs and early child marriages. Most girls are being married at an early age as early as 15. This is all due to poverty, lack of entertainment or recreational centers, shortage of employment. Girls are finding comfort in the hands of older man whom they call sugar daddies, this man come with flashy cars spending money and promises of a golden life but unfortunately everything comes at a high prize, pregnancy and HIV and AIDs and rejection adding more burden on the parents. Also boys are indulging in drugs building early graves for themselves. After their ordinary or advanced level, some of the youth will not have money to further their education leading them to live a hustling life in a community without industries or enough jobs. High unemployment rates leading to poor Local Economic Development.

The greatest grievance of the community is that there is no manufacturing industry in the town. Mvurwi has various untapped investment opportunities which include among others

1) Opportunity for the recapitalization of non-operational industries the brewery and fruit packing

2) Opportunity available in the mining, agricultural and the arts industries

3) Contract farming and joint venture with farmers

4) Hotel and lodges

5) Timber processing

6) Cultural exchange programs

7) Technical and vocational colleges

8) SMEs Development and Financial Support Institutions

9) Construction of a bigger supermarket as the town does not have one

10) ICT investments and infrastructure

More so, the youth lack exposure. It is very unfortunate that they do not get the opportunity to meet with other provinces nationwide and even with other countries. Exchange programs especially with other countries is a great advantage because youth will be able to acquire knowledge on how youth from other countries live and survive and various projects they do which includes land production, handmade projects and also even to the extent of exchanging technology ideas.

To date, the town does not have a compliant landfill and this is attracting penalties from EMA which is an extra burden to the already constrained financial resources. Currently the town is servicing about 1450 stands for residential purposes and one major challenge is lack of lined sewer ponder with the desired capacity to cope with the development’s. This however attracts cholera and other related diseases to the high density section.