Tshinga Dube Furious As Locals Sidelined In Byo-Vic Falls Road Rehab Contract
Government officials in Bulawayo have expressed concern over the marginalisation of local contractors when it comes to the awarding of contracts that involve menial jobs in the Matabeleland region.
This comes after some people in Harare received a contract to clear the bushes along the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls highway road, defying a policy that locals must be the ones contracted to do such jobs.
This was revealed by former war veterans minister and ZANU PF Politburo member, Tshinga Dube, at a press conference with Bulawayo journalists on the occasion of Africa Day, Tuesday, CITE reports. Said, Dube:
Just four days ago, Cde Judith Ncube, the minister phoned me and said there are people who received a contract in Harare to clear the bushes along the roads, the Bulawayo to Victoria Falls and they are coming here.
I was in Harare myself. They are coming, carrying their people, with choppers to come and cut trees here.
Dube said he advised the provincial and devolution minister to put a stop to that as that defied the devolution policy. He said:
I said, ‘No, no but you are a minister of devolution yourself, so you stop them and say no. You have people here who can do that.’
I don’t think you need to go for training just to chop wood anyone can chop wood.
Let people there discuss with people in Matabeleland North because that’s where they live.
Hire boys along the road just from Bulawayo and then they can chop wood
Dube also criticised some people who committed offences and hid behind the president’s name.
Ncube later told CITE in an interview that devolution was necessary so that local youth also benefit from such job opportunities. Ncube said:
You will recall that when President Mnangagwa came to commission water projects in Nyamandlovu, he spoke of the Gwayi-Shangani pipeline and said for devolution, not one company must do the job but several so that locals have a role in working on that pipeline.
We all have a role in building Zimbabwe so we must listen and correct each other where we go wrong.
