Staff Reporter |Beitbridge based Matabeleland South ZANU PF senator Tapudzai Mohadi, has described all Members of Parliament in the province which includes her husband Kembo, as a useless bunch failing to represent the people from the province and the region.
Mohadi made the remarks while addressing attendants of a public consultative meeting held in Esigodini on Saturday.
The consultation came up following a number of issues raised to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Lands, Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development by ordinary people in Matabeleland South Province.
Senator Mohadi said there is a general under-representation at legislative level of the people of the region because parliamentarians from the region never present concerns of the province to parliament.
“Most of the issues raised by the Matabeleland South community during the parliamentary portfolio committee meetings could have been attended to if their parliamentary representatives were alert and paying attention to challenges affecting people,” she told the media on the sidelines of the meeting.
ZANU PF apparently won all the 13 parliamentary seats in Matabeleland South province in the 2013 elections.
Senator Mohadi’s husband Kembo Mohadi is also one of parliamentarians from the province representing Beitbridge East which on its own is arguably the poorest district in the province.
Hottest among the issues raised by members of the public was the bullying by land officials and senior ZANU PF and government officials in allocating land in the province.
Minister of Presidential Affairs in the province Abednico Ncube and Kembo Mohadi who is also Minister of State Security have appeared in court on several occasions to solve land disputes, in which they would have used their political power to out of procedure allocate themselves or their keens prime pieces of land around the province.
Meanwhile, urban local authorities in the province have appealed to the same parliamentary committee to facilitate legislation on the acquisition of land for urban expansion.
In their presentation during a public hearing, senior council officials led by the Mayor of Gwanda, Councillor Knowledge Ndlovu appealed to parliamentarians for the formalisation of the proposed setting aside of land within the 40 km radius of towns as urban expansion areas.
The local authorities said the current set-up where people have been resettled on farms that are adjacent to towns needs to be reconsidered and necessary adjustments done for proper planning purposes in line with current urban trends.
“Urban planning must account for developments that go beyond 50 years, hence the call to set aside land for expansion,” Ndlovu said.