I want to see a Chitungwiza with every opportunity...

I want to see a Chitungwiza with every opportunity we need, says Alice Kuvheya

Edmore Zvinonzwa

Chitungwiza has produced several men and women of steel who have made it various sectors of the economy, from business, sport and creatives among others and they have made names for themselves.

However, there also those who have traversed the length and breadth of the unique settlement, seeing its challenges and chose not to stop there.

Most people just talk about the ills, most of which have been occasioned by service delivery deficiencies. The dirt and filth in Chitungwiza was not always there. Storm water drains were clear and functional around the year 2000, refuse was collected at regular intervals, taps had running water, some roads were tarred while burst sewers were intermittent and were attended to on time.

Something went wrong along the way and things just started going bad and service delivery began to suffer.

The gradual decadence that residents witnessed led birth of the Chitungwiza Residents Trust, a non-partisan, not-for-profit member-based residents association in 2013, advocating for improved service delivery.

**AliceKuvheya filling a pothole on one of the roads in Chitungwiza**

This desire to see a better Chitungwiza is what drives one of its founding members, Alice Kuvheya, who was born and bred in Zengeza 1, Chitungwiza before moving to Zengeza 5, a suburb in the sprawling town.

“Things just have to change for the better. Residents of Chitungwiza are human. They also see, hear, smell and taste like all humans and should be treated as such. People follow us, we now have over 65 000 members as Chitrest because we believe in transparency and community engagement. I am not a board person but always work on the ground with the residents.

“We want to work with councillors but they do not want to listen to us as stakeholders. Elected councillors tend to listen more to their political parties than the residents. They give false promises and tend to forget where their bread is buttered.

“The reason why we are having recalls today is because the councilors take instructions from heir parties.

“Members of Parliament are even worse, they do not want residents associations in whatever they do. They would rather work with someone else. Up to now, we have five elected MPs in Chitungwiza, but no one has talked about Muda Dam. No one has spoken about building a polytechnic in Chitungwiza, but these things have been spoken about and are known all over Chitungwiza.

“As Chitrest, we advocate for service delivery, for human rights and at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, we were sourcing food donations to give to underprivileged. We were even cooking food for people during that period.

“After winning a High Court case on water rights, we then brought water bowsers to the people,” Kuvheya said.

The human rights defender said at Chitrest, they have done a lot of things.

“We have written to President Emmerson Mnangagwa on the water situation in Chitungwiza as we advocate for our own source of water in the town.

“In 2021, I challenged Local Government and Public Works Ministry over council’s intention to demolish over 55 000 houses and vending stalls in Chitungwiza.

“In partnership with Key College, we are training nurse aides so that they can be able to sustain their lives. After being named Netherlands human rights ambassador, I received an award which carried some money that we used to drill a borehole at Key College in Unit K, Citungwiza, where our offices are. The community around gets water from that borehole,” she said.

Currently, Kuvheya said, Chitrest is advocating for local authorities to control their issues to do with water, which currently falls under Zinara.

She also bemoaned the difficulties faced by residents of Nyatsime, who struggle to access other parts of Chitungwiza and beyond because there is no bridge on Nyatsime River.

“Not even a single has spoken about Nyatsime, where people have difficulties in crossing. We elect them but they do not listen to us at all,” said the Chirest executive director, who also had her own wish list if she gets into a position of power in the country.

“I would advocate for free sanitary wear, for a school for the physically challenged in Chitungwiza, completion of the Muda Dam project that will give Chitungwiza its own source of water, to see a viable orphanage taking shape in Harare’ dormitory town and advocate for free wheel chairs, among other issues.

“When MPs and councillors get donations, they should first consider the physically-challenged. When councillors are asked to provide names of people to get employed, they should first look at the underprivileged.

“I also wish to meet the President, one-on-one to tell him all about the water situation in Chitungwiza, because I believe he does not know the truth, the sewage problem because I am sure he is not shown these places whenever he visits.

“We have never had a female MP in Chitungwiza. I would love to see a Chitungwiza with every opportunity that we need, with vending stalls. We are all informal traders so we would like to pay to council so that service delivery can be improved in the populous town.

She added that there must be electricity in Nyatsime and council properties such as beer gardens must be run by council not by individuals.

“I would like to see an end to corruption involving land in Chitungwiza. Chitungwiza is very rich, we had the land. Land barons get land and sell it in USD but pay council in RTGS. If only council could get the money, by this time we would have money to repair our own roads, by this time we would be able to say we have so much towards building Muda Dam, we would have clean council offices. By this time, we would be having more tippers to carry garbage out of residential and shopping areas. We would be having cars to come and repair burst sewer pipes.

“Even if we report these known land barons, they are not arrested. Even if they do, they are soon out. We have seen them working in cahoots with councilors and management at council and nothing happens to them.

“Over 55 000 house are yet to be regularised, some are built in cemeteries, on playing grounds, on wetlands and other such places. The law must take its course against land barons. At least council can start by recovering their properties so that they can sell properly and get money for service delivery,” Kuvheya said.