GOVERNMENT has announced a package for chiefs that will see them getting foreign currency allowances, medical aid, monthly fuel coupons and air time for ease of communication.
Their cars will also be serviced by Government and they
will receive brand new ones after every five years.
The development follows concerns that some traditional chiefs
have been failing to execute their duties due to lack of resources.
This was due to broken down vehicles or lack of fuel but
that is set to be a thing of the past as the Second Republic has taken a
deliberate position to capacitate the constitutionally recognised traditional
leaders.
Traditional leaders are the vanguard of traditional values
in the wake of cultural imperialism.
Last year, President Mnangagwa handed over vehicles to some
traditional leaders as part of Government’s ongoing programme to ensure chiefs
are mobile and to restore their dignity.
Speaking on Tuesday at Chief Sigola’s homestead in
Esiphezini, Umzingwane district in Matabeleland South province, Deputy Minister
of Local Government and Public Works, Marian Chombo, said never again will
chiefs in Zimbabwe have transport and communication challenges as Government
has committed to improving their welfare to also include their medical needs.
Deputy Minister Chombo visited Chief Sigola (95) to get
first-hand information on his plight after being invited by Umzingwane MP, Cde
Levi Mayihlome.
During a briefing session, Deputy Minister Chombo was told
that Chief Sigola was given 70 hectares of non-arable land, was living in a
farmhouse that had no electricity and no running water and the road leading to
his homestead is not trafficable.
The Deputy Minister was also told that unlike most of his
colleagues, Chief Sigola does not have a car or an offer letter for the land
that he was given.
Emerging from the briefing, Deputy Minister Chombo told a
gathering of officials from various Government departments in the district,
headmen, village heads, and villagers that she was touched by Chief Sigola’s
plight and promised to address all the issues within the next 30 days.
Having been to Tsholotsho on Monday where she met three
local chiefs, Deputy Minister Chombo said a number of issues on the welfare of
the traditional leaders have been raised and they are all generally the same.
She said Government already has plans to improve the
welfare of chiefs.
“There are many issues that were raised about the welfare
of our chiefs in general.
I want to inform this gathering that as Government, we are
introducing medical aid for all the chiefs in the country, we are introducing
air time for them.
We are going to give them fuel coupons monthly and we are
reviewing their allowances so that they get part of their payment in US
dollars,” said Deputy Minister Chombo.
“We are going to be servicing their vehicles and as
Government we are going to take it upon ourselves to see to it that our chiefs
receive a new vehicle every five years.
As we review their allowances, please bear with us, I know
they are not as per expectations but we are going to try our level best to make
them respectable as an administration under the leadership of a listening
President.”
She promised Chief Sigola that under the leadership of
President Mnangagwa, all issues would be addressed.
“We are here now on Chief Sigola’s land, somebody who
doesn’t have transport to go to Bulawayo, a chief who doesn’t have water to
drink, who doesn’t have electricity and we say they are the custodians of the
land.
There was something that Cde Mayihlome told me that really
touched me.
He said Chief Sigola told him that if he dies, he does not
want anyone to start fixing the road and restoring electricity so that they
attend his funeral.
He said if that can’t be done while he was alive, it better
not be done at all,” said Deputy Minister Chombo.
“I am not trying to say things that we are not going to
fulfill. I am not here to campaign but to assure you Baba Sigola you will get
everything I have promised.
At my age I am your daughter and will never lie to you.”
The Deputy Minister urged Umzingwane Rural District Council
to cultivate a cordial working relationship with local chiefs as failure to do
so has a negative impact on devolution which is set to be implemented with
contribution from chiefs as per the Second Republic’s Vision 2030. Chronicle
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