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George Maponga Masvingo Bureau
Government has been challenged to ensure that the people of Masvingo Province accumulate socio-economic benefits from the recently commissioned Tokwe-Mukosi Dam.

Addressing the Zanu-PF provincial co-ordinating committee recently, the party’s national political commissar, Lieutenant-General Engelbert Rugeje (Retired) said Tokwe-Mukosi Dam and the Beitbridge-Harare dualisation projects had the potential to propel Masvingo on a growth trajectory engendering large-scale socio-economic development. Lt-Gen Rugeje (Rtd) said the province would never be the same again with the coming on board of the two massive projects.

“The onus is on us, the political leadership in Masvingo, to make sure that our people, particularly our unemployed young people, benefit from the two projects. We are, however, not saying these projects should exclusively benefit the people of Masvingo, but that our people should be major beneficiaries because these projects are here.The people of Masvingo should be at the forefront of benefiting from these cakes,” he said.

Lt-Gen Rugeje (Rtd) said the party leadership would closely monitor operations of the country’s sole lithium miner, Bikita Minerals, to ensure the firm rolled out programmes and projects that benefited people in surrounding areas and Masvingo Province. Lt-Gen Rugeje (Rtd) said Zanu-PF expected Bikita Minerals to offer increased assistance to bring about socio-economic development, as one of the biggest private companies in province.

Tokwe-Mukosi Dam is arguably the biggest investment by Government in Masvingo in post-independent Zimbabwe. The dam has a full capacity of 1,8 billion cubic metres, with potential to irrigate more than 25 000 hectares in southern Masvingo.

It costs close to $300 million to complete Tokwe-Mukosi Dam located near Ngundu Growth Point, with Government wholly funding the project. Former President Cde Robert Mugabe commissioned the dam last year. Meanwhile, the nearly $1 billion Beitbridge-Harare dualisation project is touted as a permanent panacea to runaway carnage on arguably Zimbabwe’s busiest highway. Hundreds of thousands of jobs are expected to be created once work on the highway dualisation starts.