Matabeleland people are crying over closure of companies

MDC-T senator Theresa Makone said people in Matabeleland particularly in Bulawayo were crying over the continuous closure of companies and also of jobs which they say government has continued to ignore.

Speaking in parliament Makone said according to her devolution must start with Matabeleland and have a duty to their  fellow countrymen to be seen to be fair.

"They were crying about jobs, industry, marginalization and I will give you an example of some of the things they were saying. They were saying Matabeleland and Bulawayo in particular used to be the industrial hub of Zimbabwe but now there is zero production. They are saying that our teachers from Mashonaland are filling all their schools. The teachers do not even understand the children and the children do not understand the teachers, especially in the grade zero, 1 and 2 when they cannot speak English," she said.

"The failure rate at ‘O' and ‘A' level is very high because of lack of communication. We are building universities there without putting ‘A' level schools there and then importing the children from Mashonaland to go and do university education there. I am a Shona and I felt bad, guilty and I think we should have a collective sense of guilt and to resurrect ourselves, we must find that money to even start."

She said they can start with Bulawayo.

"Why I am saying Bulawayo? Bulawayo does not need extra resources.  We already have the Metropolitan area of Bulawayo.  All it has to do is to implement the Constitution as if it was a Devolved area. You do not need resources. We could show goodwill by doing that," she said. "We cannot continue to pretend that we need one cent for Harare Metropolitan. The building is already there and people just have to go in.  If we have to give them an option of salaries or no salaries, but you devolve and run your own issues using the budgets that have already been approved by the Minister of Local Government, they will go right ahead. They will have no reason at all to wait."

She said it is a very serious issue that is facing us in this country and anyone who underplays the feelings of the people in Matabeleland does so at the risk of the health of this nation.

"There is so much distrust, that the only way to rid of that distrust is to do something, however little so that they see there is effort from the central Government. The way we have behaved in that part of the country – I was travelling around it for the first time, it would appear that we actually are living true to their fears and for the sake of Zimbabwe, regardless of party political affiliations, let us start by devolving Matabeleland," she said.