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Activity update - 23-24 June 2012
Bulawayo Agenda
June 25, 2012

During the weekend (23-24 June), Bulawayo Agenda conducted Community Resource Monitoring Training for the Nkayi Community. The training was meant to develop the capacity of community leaders and members to monitor their local resources and hold local decision makers accountable for the development of the community. Bulawayo Agenda also took the opportunity to tour the area to attend an Inkundla (meeting) at Chief Nkalakatha's homestead, before a field tour to community members as a way of documenting issues of concern in the area. Below is a summary of what transpired:

Community Resources Monitoring Training

Twenty six (26) people including three village heads, three councilors, five residents' association representatives, activists, a School Development Association chairperson and church leaders took part in the Community Resource Monitoring workshop organized by Nkayi Agenda on Saturday 23 June 2012. The workshop was held at the Roman Catholic Hall at Nkayi business center.

The overarching objective of the training was to build the capacity of community leaders to ensure greater transparency and accountability in so far as the community resources are concerned. The participants identified the resources in the area and made resolutions and advocacy strategies to ensure that the Nkayi community benefits from the proceeds from their resources.

Participants then made the following resolutions:

• Councilors resolved to influence the strengthening of by-laws to ensure that there is benefits from local resources are enhanced.
• Council representatives pledged to ensure that the Nkayi Rural District Council develops an inventory of all the resources under its jurisdiction.
• Councilors also pledged to use the Provincial Charter platform consisting of councilors from Matabeleland North to influence the amendments and formulation of by-laws that ensure that communities benefit from their resources.
• Village heads vowed to educate their people on the need to be vigilant and protect their natural resources from extracted without accountability or transparency.

Inkundla (community leaders' meeting) at the Chief's Nkalakatha

More than 300 participants including 13 village heads, women and school children converged at Chief Nkalakatha's Inkundla to attend a meeting organized for Bulawayo Agenda by Ginyinhlupho, a Nkayi based community organization. Chief Nkalakatha Ndiweni blessed the gathering by giving opening remarks and telling his subjects to speak out their views without fear of victimization.

They noted with concern the pain-stalking slow pace of development in the district and said that deliberate efforts should be made to ensure that all provinces are at par in terms of infrastructure. Participants at the meeting flagged out the acute shortage of water and massive unemployment as the major challenges in the area.

The organization was represented by the Executive Director Mr. Thabani Nyoni and the BA board Chairperson Mr. Royal Ntini. Addressing villagers at the meeting, Nyoni told villagers that they should be at the forefront of spearheading developmental issues as opposed to the top-down approach as seen in the community share schemes and indigenization laws.

He also updated the village heads and their people about the work that Bulawayo Agenda has done to ensure that cultural rights and devolution of power are enshrined in the draft constitution.

Highlights

• Contrary to traditional norms, women at Chief Nkalakatha's court yard spoke freely about issues concerning the education of their children. Of the eleven (11) participants that spoke during the plenary session, five (5) were women who lamented the decay in service delivery in Nkayi.
• Village head Nyathi of Zinyangeni, acknowledged that the community is still hurting from the scars inflicted by Gukurahundi in the area.
• Participants blamed politics for the delay in the completion of the Bulawayo-Nkayi road, they said the delay is a draw-back to potential development in the area and also demanded to know what action is being done to ensure the speedy completion of the road that has been under construction since independence in 1980.

Field tour

As part of its mapping exercise, Bulawayo Agenda navigated the breadth and depth of Nkayi in order to establish the real issues troubling the people of Nkayi. Part of the entourage in the field visit was the Bulawayo Agenda board chairperson, Royal Ntini, BA Director Thabani Nyoni, Nkayi Agenda chairperson Cephas Ncube, Village head Nyathi of Zinyangeni, Sithabile Nyathi of Ginyinhlupho and other community members.

The tour established that the Nkayi area has a lot of issues that need immediate attention. The issues range from political intimidation to the denial of people's rights to life. At a home established by Ginyinhlupho community based organization in Tohwe, it came to light that the Department of Social Welfare in the area refused to take custody of four disabled people and five children. The team was told that an employee of the government department suggested that the affected could neither be kept by the Social Welfare nor by Gunyinhlupho.

It is said that the employee suggested that the disabled be dumped in the bush. It also came to light during the tour that Chief Madliwa is leaving in fear after being threatened with the gutting down of his homestead by ZANU PF youths with the backing of the Nkayi-North Member of Parliament, Sithembiso Nyoni for allegedly supporting the revived ZAPU party.

Highlights from the tour:

• A 2005 graduate from a teacher-training institute in Manicaland is a headmaster at a school in Nkayi.
• Essential services delivery erratic in Nkayi.
• Traditional leaders live in fear.

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