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Masvingo
province faces severe challenges
Community Tolerance Reconciliation and Development (COTRAD)
September 30 , 2013
Masvingo province
is in need of more humanitarian aid organizations and requires more
work around the promotion of human rights.
The banning
of 29 NGOs from operating in the province last year reduced the
number of humanitarian aid organizations providing food aid to the
drought stricken province. Approximately more than 200 000 households
are in the quagmire of poverty in districts such as Chivi, Mwenezi,
Bikita and Zaka.
Increase is
dropouts from school due to poverty has also escalated with a ratio
of 3 in every 10 being drop outs, this further questions the authenticity
of the presentation made by Zimbabwe to the 68th UN General Council.
The closure
of the operating space led to the politicization of the grain loan
scheme which was further used as a tool to coerce the electorate
in buying certain political ideologies. As the elections
are gone communities in Masvingo have been left vulnerable,
as there is no cushion to the hunger problems facing the province.
This will certainly cripple Zimbabwe as a community and the attainment
of the MDGs will be a fallacy.
The decentralization
of autonomy to provincial levels should be followed by disbursement
of adequate resources aimed at masterminding development projects
and eradicating poverty which is also part of MDGs. The national
budget for the fiscal year 2014 should be all encompassing to give
provinces leverages in addressing their peculiar challenges
More so Masvingo
has become a one party province, underlining the importance of watchdogs
in the form of Civil society to consistently provide checks and
balances for the next 5 years. The role is to make sure Zimbabweans
are equal regardless of political affiliation. This is essential
and of paramount importance as the earlier distribution of grain
and development projects was done on partisan basis.
COTRAD among
other key community based actors will play a key role in making
government accountable to its citizens through ushering provisions
for adequate support to communities like Masvingo which are vulnerable.
Visit the COTRAD
fact
sheet
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