Mhondoro-Ngezi Shadow MP eases the struggles of old people

At a time in Zimbabwe's electoral cycle, when elected officials forget those that voted them into political office and concentrate on fattening their own welfare, shadow Mhondoro-Ngezi Member of Parliament Kurebwa Javangwe Nomboka, paid a surprise visit this weekend to ward one where he handed down close to twenty cartoons of sugar.

"My coming to you is not to ask for any vote but is my small way of showing especially the old people of this ward that as their son I have not forgotten about their daily struggles and this because I know their struggles and how most of them have no source of income and are fending for their grandchildren", said Nomboka in his maiden speech delivered at Makwavarara Primary School grounds in Chief Murambwa's area.

Developmental Coordinating Chairman for Nomboka's ward one program Prosper Tarupihwa said that many people in his area had confidence in Nomboka's potential as an aspirant whom they believed can deliver the kind of Mhondoro-Ngezi that would be better and wanted by all if given a society-wide stakeholder support.

"Hon. Nomboka's heart was sold to seeing the constituency develop into a vibrant society where girls, women, children and the entire population enjoyed peace, unity and prosperity", said Tarupihwa.

"My welfare program is cognizant of the economic hardships our people are going through and is not on a partisan basis but open to all old people because hunger knows no political boundaries and it's also true that when we're denied basic needs then life itself ceases to exist", added Nomboka.

Mhondoro-Ngezi is one Zimbabwe's largest constituencies with eleven wards. Ward one has a total population of 4,286 with 1,058 households, 758 poor households and 300 non-poor. Each household has an average size of 4 persons.

However, the poverty prevalence in ward one is around 71,1 percent and, with a 31.1 percent poverty gap index, 16.6 percent poverty severity index and 37.6 percent Gini Index.

The entire Mhondoro-Ngezi district has had a poverty prevalence of 64.3 percent. Ward 12 has the highest poverty prevalence of 79 percent while ward eleven has the lowest poverty prevalence of 63 percent.

The western and southern wards have high poverty prevalence in general, while the central wards were better possibly because of their proximity to growth points. This is according to the latest Zimbabwe Poverty Atlas statistics for the district of Mhondoro-Ngezi which was produced by the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT). Technical and financial support was provided by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank. Mhondoro-Ngezi district has a total population of 315, 515 people.

"What Nomboka is doing noble and as women and on behalf of our senior citizens here we're so grateful because he has taken much from the little he has to come down here to us and share in our economic and social struggles", commented Selisha Tafadzwa Brown, a young woman we met at Makwavarara grounds.


Old people in Mhondoro-Ngezi have since petitioned Nomboka to help with economic strengthening support, and the taking care of their orphaned grandchildren as most of them are struggling to feed and put them through school while many cases of early child marriages and school drop-outs are looming.
The villages that benefited directly from this generous token included Chigume, Chivhunga, Mukundwa, Munawa, Mtizwa, Chimhanzi, Muparadzi and Nzvere.