The ManicaPost
Post Reporter
CIVIL servants and Nyanga Rural District Council have been urged to work together for the resort village to maintain its status as one of the leading tourist attraction in the country.
Addressing participants at a workshop organised by acting Nyanga District Administrator, Mr Richard Maruta’s Office and development partners in Juliasdale last Friday, Manicaland Provincial Administrator, Mr Fungai Mbetsa, said there should be synergies between the local leadership and civil servants.
“Your area is unique because it has a lot to offer to the country. You should have synergies to maintain Nyanga’s status as a tourist attraction as well as the leading potato producers in the country. The uniqueness of your district should come out through strategising as a unit. There should be effective interaction of all stakeholders starting from village levels. A bottom-up approach is effective for all projects to be a success.
“Civil servants you were not deployed here to repeat what is being done in Harare. You are here to work with all stakeholders to address the concerns and wishes of people of this district. In short, you are here to facilitate the development of this district,” said Mr Mbetsa.
He said district leaders should be transformation leaders.
“We do not want leaders who specialises in conflict management.
“This will not help anyone as a lot of time and energy will be lost fighting crisis and not spearheading development. As leaders, you should be inclusive, decisive and proactive. How can you facilitate development when you do not want to work with development partners?” said Mr Mbetsa.
Speaking at the same occasion, Chief Hata, urged all stakeholders to work together especially when it comes to environment conservation.
“There is massive environment degradation in this district and we all have a role to play to preserve the environment for the benefit of future generations. Deforestation should be halted because Nyanga is fast losing its status as one of the most beautiful areas in the country.
“I want to urge development partners to seriously consider environment management issues in their future budgets. Us alone as traditional leaders cannot achieve much in conserving the environment because of lack of resources, but if development partners come on board a lot of progress will be made,” said Chief Hata.
On the issue of tsikamutandas or boosters wreaking havoc in the district, Chief Hata said: “These people are operating without our blessings. When they first came, it was through some villagers who requested for their services.
“After we realised that they were ripping off people, we chucked them out.
“However, we heard that there are some villagers who are going behind our backs and calling them back. These are individual arrangements without our blessings.
“I just want to warn people not to cry foul if they are duped by the tsikamutandas because we said no to their operations.”
