Prof Ncube will be representing Zanu-PF in the forthcoming
elections in Cowdray Park constituency. He went in unchallenged in the just
ended party primary elections in the newly established constituency. The
development that he is working to bring to the area is part of his desire to
close the development gap in the constituency so that it plays catch-up with
other suburbs in the country’s second largest city.
“For over three years I have been having conversations and
frequenting Cowdray Park, mostly engaging party structures there. It was during
that time that I got well acquainted with the challenges faced by the
constituency, particularly the stunted development of major social amenities.
Politically, I could have chosen a number of constituencies in the region,
Lupane included, but I chose Cowdray Park because of the urgent need for
development that is there. My vision is to see Cowdray Park catching up and
possibly leap other urban constituencies across Zimbabwe. There is immense
potential for that,” said Prof Ncube.
He said with over 9 000 houses in Cowdray Park having no
water and sewer connection, a plan has been put in place to address the sewer
problem.
We are in conversation with a number of civil engineers in
order to get the most professional input in coming up with a permanent
solution. Alive to the water challenges facing Bulawayo and aware of the
Government’s major projects like Gwayi-Shangani and Nyamandlovu Aquifer, the
need for clean water in Cowdray Park is immediate and after consultations with
the residents, the most suitable short-term solution we agreed on was the issue
of boreholes.
“These will address both the non-connected areas and the
connected areas due to the massive water shedding schedule employed by the city
council. So far, 24 boreholes have been drilled across strategic sites around
Cowdray Park. These boreholes will come with community nutritional gardens in
order to improve nutrition and income levels of identified underprivileged
groups like widows, orphans, the disabled, women and youth households around
these water sources,” said Prof Ncube.
Prof Ncube has also been cognisant of the fact that over
half of Cowdray Park is still not connected to the electricity grid. As such,
measures have so far been put in place to alleviate the plight of the
unconnected community.
“We discovered that residents were paying towards
procurement of gum poles and there were no transformers. We have then
intervened by sourcing 32 transformers so far out of a required 36, the vision
is to have all households connected in the next few months. What is left is the
procurement of the poles and we are in touch with a number of companies
including Allied Timbers in order to remove the burden from the residents. So,
we are very serious about the issue of electricity,” he said.
Prof Ncube has also rolled out other human capital
capacitation programmes that have seen youths in the area acquiring various
skills training.
“Early this year we rolled out a nurse-aide training course
in partnership with the Red Cross Society. A pioneer class of 600 youths went
through the first phase and will soon be getting into the last phase while a
second group of 600 youths has been enrolled for the second class. This was
done at the request of youth groups in Cowdray Park last year and we are
already seeing the positive impact that the programme is bringing within the
constituency. A skill is a great tool of empowerment,” he said.
He added that there was also a request by youths for
assistance towards acquiring driver’s licences.
“We have since rolled out a programme to fund lessons for 1
000 youths within the constituency towards acquiring driving skills and
ultimately the licences,” said Prof Ncube. Sunday News
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