News / National
Woman drops dead at Mphoko's Zanu-PF rally
29 May 2015 at 06:54hrs | Views
A SOMBRE atmosphere engulfed Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko's visit to Nyakomba Irrigation Scheme on Wednesday afternoon after an elderly woman who was part of the crowd that had gathered early to welcome him collapsed and died at the venue.
The woman, believed to be in her sixties was identified as Mrs Venencia Chitanda of Mutukumira Village in Nyanga.
Mrs Chitanda was a widow and is survived by six children.
Relatives said she was asthmatic.
Earlier on Mrs Chitanda was part of the Zanu-PF Women's League group that was singing and dancing to liberation songs.
The incident occurred around 12pm when Mrs Chitanda collapsed. She was rushed to Chatindo-Nyanga Clinic where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
Mphoko arrived around 3pm when some close relatives and other villagers of Block D had dispersed to make funeral arrangements.
Nurses at the rally came under stinging criticism for dragging their feet to offer life-saving interventions to Mrs Chitanda.
They only intervened after some time when some villagers had carried her for about 100 metres away from the scene to give her first aid.
This was despite the fact that the health crew had a stretcher, an ideal equipment to use under the circumstances.
It took the innovation of one alert usher to summon the nurses.
That was when they drew the stretcher from the ambulance parked within the vicinity.
Minutes later, Mrs Chitanda's body put on the stretcher as it was taken into the ambulance. It took the ambulance another 10 minutes to take off. And by the time it took off, word had already filtered through the crowd that she had died.
Nurses at Chitindo-Nyanga Clinic pronounced her dead on arrival, sending relatives and villagers into mourning.
VP Mphoko described the incident as worrisome.
A minute of silence was observed in honour of Mrs Chitanda.
Mphoko donated $500 towards funeral expenses.
"I am sorry about the death (of Mrs Chitanda). Death is God's law and it cannot be escaped. I will try to help so that you can give this heroine a befitting burial," said Mphoko.
The Minister of State for Provincial Affairs, Mandi Chimene, said the incident was least expected.
"You cannot believe it, but that is what happened. The good thing is that she died serving her country. We are still at war as a nation and she was part of this to her death. We are sorry, and we request that you give her a befitting burial," said Chimene.
Nyanga North legislator, Hubert Nyanhongo, said: "Mrs Chitanda was here singing and dancing to liberation war songs. She was part of women who were entertaining us before her collapse and sudden death. What happened here has confirmed God's word that death comes like a thief and nobody can avoid it when the time comes.
"We console ourselves in that she died while doing what she loved most," said Nyanhongo.
Meanwhile, Mphoko said the country needs to revamp its irrigation policy and come up with one that ensures that irrigation schemes countrywide fulfil their mandate to mitigate negative impacts of drought and to achieve food security.
He said it was only through drought mitigation that the country would be able to produce more reliable crop yields.
Mphoko said ensuring food security was an important tool in tackling poverty.
"We need to take irrigation development seriously, especially at policy level. We need to make sure that what I have seen at Nyakomba Irrigation Scheme is replicated to other schemes. We need an aggressive policy to ignite life into our irrigation schemes so that they fulfil their mandate to mitigate negative impacts of drought and improve food security.
"When people are working, they need to be assisted so that they can realise their potential. Nyakomba Irrigation Scheme can be a bastion of drought mitigation if it gets the required assistance.
"We need to approach our partners so that they can assist the scheme to fulfil its potential.
"We cannot rely on rain-fed agriculture anymore. Imagine what happens when the rains don't come. Disaster," said Mphoko.
Nyakomba Irrigation Scheme was established between 1997 and 2000 with funding from the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) targeting 700 hectares.
The scheme's construction resulted in the completion of three Blocks B, C, D totalling 431ha. Blocks A and E could not be completed due to financial challenges as the Government shifted attention from Block A in 2006 to focus on the rehabilitation of Block B, C and D that had been damaged by Cyclone Eline induced floods in 2006.
After the floods in 2006 Blocks B and C were quickly brought back into operation with Block D only brought to operation in 2012.
A team of engineers from JICA was in the country recently to carry out a feasibility study for the scheme's phase two expansion.
Under the scheme's Phase 2 Expansion Project, which has already been approved by Government, JICA, which is the arm of the Japanese Aid Programme, will redesign and implement the 138ha Block A and rehabilitate pump stations in Block B, C and D with the full implementation expected to start in 2016.
The Nyakomba Irrigation Scheme has already benefited many families in the community through poverty alleviation and food production.
Tabasco chilli growing is the most pronounced crop, with 743 farmers cultivating the crop that is expected to yield about 300 tonnes.
The farmers also grow another chilli variety called African Bird's Eye, maize, tomatoes, wheat and green beans.
Tabasco is produced under contract farming, where farmers access inputs worth $190.
The woman, believed to be in her sixties was identified as Mrs Venencia Chitanda of Mutukumira Village in Nyanga.
Mrs Chitanda was a widow and is survived by six children.
Relatives said she was asthmatic.
Earlier on Mrs Chitanda was part of the Zanu-PF Women's League group that was singing and dancing to liberation songs.
The incident occurred around 12pm when Mrs Chitanda collapsed. She was rushed to Chatindo-Nyanga Clinic where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
Mphoko arrived around 3pm when some close relatives and other villagers of Block D had dispersed to make funeral arrangements.
Nurses at the rally came under stinging criticism for dragging their feet to offer life-saving interventions to Mrs Chitanda.
They only intervened after some time when some villagers had carried her for about 100 metres away from the scene to give her first aid.
This was despite the fact that the health crew had a stretcher, an ideal equipment to use under the circumstances.
It took the innovation of one alert usher to summon the nurses.
That was when they drew the stretcher from the ambulance parked within the vicinity.
Minutes later, Mrs Chitanda's body put on the stretcher as it was taken into the ambulance. It took the ambulance another 10 minutes to take off. And by the time it took off, word had already filtered through the crowd that she had died.
Nurses at Chitindo-Nyanga Clinic pronounced her dead on arrival, sending relatives and villagers into mourning.
VP Mphoko described the incident as worrisome.
A minute of silence was observed in honour of Mrs Chitanda.
Mphoko donated $500 towards funeral expenses.
"I am sorry about the death (of Mrs Chitanda). Death is God's law and it cannot be escaped. I will try to help so that you can give this heroine a befitting burial," said Mphoko.
The Minister of State for Provincial Affairs, Mandi Chimene, said the incident was least expected.
"You cannot believe it, but that is what happened. The good thing is that she died serving her country. We are still at war as a nation and she was part of this to her death. We are sorry, and we request that you give her a befitting burial," said Chimene.
Nyanga North legislator, Hubert Nyanhongo, said: "Mrs Chitanda was here singing and dancing to liberation war songs. She was part of women who were entertaining us before her collapse and sudden death. What happened here has confirmed God's word that death comes like a thief and nobody can avoid it when the time comes.
"We console ourselves in that she died while doing what she loved most," said Nyanhongo.
Meanwhile, Mphoko said the country needs to revamp its irrigation policy and come up with one that ensures that irrigation schemes countrywide fulfil their mandate to mitigate negative impacts of drought and to achieve food security.
He said it was only through drought mitigation that the country would be able to produce more reliable crop yields.
Mphoko said ensuring food security was an important tool in tackling poverty.
"We need to take irrigation development seriously, especially at policy level. We need to make sure that what I have seen at Nyakomba Irrigation Scheme is replicated to other schemes. We need an aggressive policy to ignite life into our irrigation schemes so that they fulfil their mandate to mitigate negative impacts of drought and improve food security.
"When people are working, they need to be assisted so that they can realise their potential. Nyakomba Irrigation Scheme can be a bastion of drought mitigation if it gets the required assistance.
"We need to approach our partners so that they can assist the scheme to fulfil its potential.
"We cannot rely on rain-fed agriculture anymore. Imagine what happens when the rains don't come. Disaster," said Mphoko.
Nyakomba Irrigation Scheme was established between 1997 and 2000 with funding from the Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) targeting 700 hectares.
The scheme's construction resulted in the completion of three Blocks B, C, D totalling 431ha. Blocks A and E could not be completed due to financial challenges as the Government shifted attention from Block A in 2006 to focus on the rehabilitation of Block B, C and D that had been damaged by Cyclone Eline induced floods in 2006.
After the floods in 2006 Blocks B and C were quickly brought back into operation with Block D only brought to operation in 2012.
A team of engineers from JICA was in the country recently to carry out a feasibility study for the scheme's phase two expansion.
Under the scheme's Phase 2 Expansion Project, which has already been approved by Government, JICA, which is the arm of the Japanese Aid Programme, will redesign and implement the 138ha Block A and rehabilitate pump stations in Block B, C and D with the full implementation expected to start in 2016.
The Nyakomba Irrigation Scheme has already benefited many families in the community through poverty alleviation and food production.
Tabasco chilli growing is the most pronounced crop, with 743 farmers cultivating the crop that is expected to yield about 300 tonnes.
The farmers also grow another chilli variety called African Bird's Eye, maize, tomatoes, wheat and green beans.
Tabasco is produced under contract farming, where farmers access inputs worth $190.
Source - manicapost
