Villagers who spoke to The Zimbabwean accused headman Willie Chanuhwa of allotting them a task that should be the responsibility of the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (ZINARA).
“Headman Chanuhwa last week convened a meeting where he ordered the villagers to cut overgrown grass according to their sections. The headman said the government has no money to hire labour to cut the grass as used to be norm in previous years,” said a villager who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation.
During the meeting, Chanuhwa warned that subjects who failed to take part in the exercise would not be considered for any food aid programmes presided over by government or relief agencies operating in the area.
Most of the crops planted in Manicaland province are now a write–off and experts and community leaders have warned of a looming drought. Another villager said it was unfair and exploitative for ZINARA to continue collecting toll gate fees while using forced labour from the poor villagers, most of them not even owning a wheelbarrow.
“If they want us to clear the roads, ZINARA should surely pay for the villagers’ services. ZINARA is getting a lot of money from toll gates and vehicle license fees but it cannot maintain the roads. Imagine the villagers are now forgoing their daily chores in order to do voluntary work for an organisation that is abusing motorists’ money,” said the villager
ZINARA has been rocked by serious allegations of financial impropriety, which has been a major staff shake-up at the parastatal recently.
Despite the highway roads maintenance authority collecting in excess of $5,5 million per month from tollgates and around $130 million annually from road access fees, vehicle licensing, transit fees and fuel levies – among other revenue streams – most roads in the country have become unsafe to drive, especially during the night.
Efforts to get a comment from ZINARA spokesperson, Augustine Moyo, as well as the headman were all in vain as their mobile numbers were not reachable.
Post published in: News