Zimpapers Logo

Runesu Gwidi Herald Correspondent
Government has pledged to continue partnering well-wishers in assisting two Bikita families with food and clothing after their homes were destroyed by flood-induced landslides that hit Mukanganwi communal lands last year.

Bikita was one of the districts that were most affected by floods that left a trail of destruction in Masvingo. Bikita District Administrator Mr Bernard Hadzirabwi said, while Government was not paying compensation to the Matambara and Chipuka families, the State will continue providing them with food and clothing until they are able to be self-dependent.

The two families from Mukanganwi moved in with their relatives after the mudslides from Dambakurima Mountain in the area, obliterated their homes through prolonged rains.

“Government and its partners will continue assisting these families so that they are able to get back on their feet again after the tragedy that hit them last year. It was a natural disaster caused by heavy rains and we will continue to assist them with food, tents, clothing and other items,” said Mr Hadzirabwi, who is also the district’s chairman of the Civil Protection Unit.

Tongaat Hulett, Red Cross Society and the Roman Catholic Church were some of the organisations that chipped in to assist the victims, he said. The two families will get monthly rations of a 50kg bag of maize, each.

Councillor for Ward 9 in Bikita Cde Sabina Kujogonya appealed to Government, through the Bikita DA’s office, to facilitate the relocation of 11 families whose fields and property were destroyed by last year’s landslides.

The relocation of the families, Cde Kujogonya said, would enable them to quickly rebuild their lives as they no longer have farming land in the aftermath of the mudslides. Last year’s experience proved that it was not safe for humans to build homesteads near mountains, she said.