Opinion / Columnist
MDGs left us blank; will SDGs recoup Binga's lost hope?
09 Jun 2016 at 14:28hrs | Views
The United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that had high promises for the development of rural areas like Binga has left us hopeless anymore. Do the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide any kind of recipe that is compatible with Binga's development? Pre-occupied by BaTonga ethnic group, Binga has always been the laugh of the time in the media and informal discussions. Hunger is a traditional phenomenon; children still walk more than 15 kilometres to schools with poor infrastructure.
Though Zimbabwe has 36 years of self-rule, the status of social amenities in some places in Binga dates back to pre-independence era where people learnt under trees and in sheds constructed from local materials. Surmounting progress have however been stricken in reducing the malaria incidences as observed by highly decreased malaria treatment queues in poor resourced and understaffed health centres. NGOs have assisted increasing the girl child school attendance but child marriages and pregnancies are on rise day after day.
In terms of HIV/AIDS prevalence Binga has made strides of reducing it but recent media reports show that there has been a 100% increase (from 3,5 to 7%) of the HIV/AIDS prevalence in Binga as reported by Tshili in the Chronicle of May 11, 2016. Environmental sustainability is still a dream yet to be noted: uncontrolled veld fires, poor water and sanitation supply, land degradation, depleting wild game and poor waste management are stories not to hide. Poor roads state, poor communication lines attenuates all local economic development potentials for Binga.
Where is the problem?
Is it because of factors like poor governance, conflicts, corruption, unaccountable and irresponsible leadership, inactive civil society, poor ethical infrastructure and lack of corporate governance framework that all give due cause to the problem? What is the link between Binga and the outside world? Since 2000 when the world UN giants set in motion the MDG agenda, we are still in dark. Will SDGS give us a relief? Food for thought!
"Yet for all the remarkable gains, I am keenly aware that inequalities persist and that progress has been uneven. The world's poor remain overwhelmingly concentrated in some parts of the world", Ban Ki Moon the UN Secretary General, ushered in the 2015 UN SDGs Report. With notable failure of MDGs, the UN has done it again and set the 17 SDGs which are dreamt to be achieved by 2030.
Is there any difference between MDGs and SDGs?
Really it is just a repetition of aspects but only strategies may call a difference. Poverty, hunger, health, education, gender, water and sanitation, global partnership issues are amongst the repeated concepts. However, SDGs dig deep into climate, energy, human settlements and other as stand-alone issues.
Binga is adjacent to Kasambabezi River but its residents suffocate from water inadequacies, lack of electricity, deep attacking into the emotions and memories of BaTonga people's unpleasant evacuation process in the 1950s. In the valley they could rarely suffer from hunger since they cultivated what the so called inchelela during the dry season. BaTonga people on both sides of the River had strong relations which were left to memory after Kariba Dam was set just to benefit other tribes, leaving BaTonga people on dry land, with poor access to the much required social service infrastructure.
Will in the next one and a half decade Binga be able to be a shining area in terms of development?
Let us wait and see! Please, responsible authorities as you are called, yes we have been forgotten, but may you please at least supply us with the remnants so we can also taste how development is.
Should we be left to suffer?
In ChiTonga we say chitamani chilalweza (everything have an end), bring an end to human suffering. We are tired to be recipients of mere hand-outs that are leaving us poorer. Develop our schools, health care institutions, social centres and more other infrastructure. Unless these are fulfilled we will always remember the valley before evacuation as having provided the best than now, please never keep the evacuation pains fresh, we need social support. I hope you have heard our story, now bring what we ask without criticising what we request.
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Quegas Mutale is a Bachelor of Science in Local Governance Studies (Honours Degree) final year student at the Midlands State University in Gweru, Zimbabwe. Quegas Mutale <quegasmutale@gmail.com
Though Zimbabwe has 36 years of self-rule, the status of social amenities in some places in Binga dates back to pre-independence era where people learnt under trees and in sheds constructed from local materials. Surmounting progress have however been stricken in reducing the malaria incidences as observed by highly decreased malaria treatment queues in poor resourced and understaffed health centres. NGOs have assisted increasing the girl child school attendance but child marriages and pregnancies are on rise day after day.
In terms of HIV/AIDS prevalence Binga has made strides of reducing it but recent media reports show that there has been a 100% increase (from 3,5 to 7%) of the HIV/AIDS prevalence in Binga as reported by Tshili in the Chronicle of May 11, 2016. Environmental sustainability is still a dream yet to be noted: uncontrolled veld fires, poor water and sanitation supply, land degradation, depleting wild game and poor waste management are stories not to hide. Poor roads state, poor communication lines attenuates all local economic development potentials for Binga.
Where is the problem?
Is it because of factors like poor governance, conflicts, corruption, unaccountable and irresponsible leadership, inactive civil society, poor ethical infrastructure and lack of corporate governance framework that all give due cause to the problem? What is the link between Binga and the outside world? Since 2000 when the world UN giants set in motion the MDG agenda, we are still in dark. Will SDGS give us a relief? Food for thought!
"Yet for all the remarkable gains, I am keenly aware that inequalities persist and that progress has been uneven. The world's poor remain overwhelmingly concentrated in some parts of the world", Ban Ki Moon the UN Secretary General, ushered in the 2015 UN SDGs Report. With notable failure of MDGs, the UN has done it again and set the 17 SDGs which are dreamt to be achieved by 2030.
Really it is just a repetition of aspects but only strategies may call a difference. Poverty, hunger, health, education, gender, water and sanitation, global partnership issues are amongst the repeated concepts. However, SDGs dig deep into climate, energy, human settlements and other as stand-alone issues.
Binga is adjacent to Kasambabezi River but its residents suffocate from water inadequacies, lack of electricity, deep attacking into the emotions and memories of BaTonga people's unpleasant evacuation process in the 1950s. In the valley they could rarely suffer from hunger since they cultivated what the so called inchelela during the dry season. BaTonga people on both sides of the River had strong relations which were left to memory after Kariba Dam was set just to benefit other tribes, leaving BaTonga people on dry land, with poor access to the much required social service infrastructure.
Will in the next one and a half decade Binga be able to be a shining area in terms of development?
Let us wait and see! Please, responsible authorities as you are called, yes we have been forgotten, but may you please at least supply us with the remnants so we can also taste how development is.
Should we be left to suffer?
In ChiTonga we say chitamani chilalweza (everything have an end), bring an end to human suffering. We are tired to be recipients of mere hand-outs that are leaving us poorer. Develop our schools, health care institutions, social centres and more other infrastructure. Unless these are fulfilled we will always remember the valley before evacuation as having provided the best than now, please never keep the evacuation pains fresh, we need social support. I hope you have heard our story, now bring what we ask without criticising what we request.
--------------
Quegas Mutale is a Bachelor of Science in Local Governance Studies (Honours Degree) final year student at the Midlands State University in Gweru, Zimbabwe. Quegas Mutale <quegasmutale@gmail.com
Source - Quegas Mutale
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