Kumakomo Community Radio

31/10/2025

City of Mutare initiates Door to Door consultations for 2026 Budget consultations.

Evidence Chenjerai

THE City of Mutare is embarking on its first door to door 2026 budget consultation that started last week Friday in a bid to improve participation of residents in budget consultations.
In a media briefing held last Friday, City of Mutare town clerk Blessing Chafesuka said the consultations would run for 10days in all the wards, targeting not less than 20 000 participants to ensure fair representation of the views of residents in the budget consultation process. He said the city has a population of 224,804 according to the 2022 population census.
“In previous years we have seen very low participation from residents of around 500 people from ward consultations with an improvement of around 5000 people last year. This door to door model of consultations within wards which is inclusive and objective is a new strategy implemented to increase input of views from residents,” said Chafesuka.
Chafesuka said residents and stakeholders consultations are important during the budget process, adding that the consultations are being done in collaboration with the budget committee which consists of representatives from residents associations, industry and commerce, Small to Medium Enterprises, Informal sector, media and government institutions. He said enumerators are using electronic data collection forms to record the residents’ feedback. They are easily identifiable as they will be wearing United Mutare Residents and Rate Payers Trust (UMRRT) vests.
“Residents should cooperate with those doing the surveys when they visit their homes so that their views can be collected and incorporated into the 2026 budget. Everyone will have a voice on the city’s plans, which makes it easy to implement, leading to improved service delivery, so everyone should be involved,” said Chafesuka who added that the involvement of stakeholders from the budget committee increases transparency and confidence in the process.
He said all the stakeholders presented their proposals to the local authority and it was decided that they try out the proposal from UMMRT of door to door consultations. “UMRRT use enumerators who use gadgets they use for their surveys to electronically collect information. Council only funds the process and no council employees are part of the door to door consultations for it to be objective,” said Chafesuka.
Chafesuka also urged those who have faulty meters to come and get new ones for free from council. He said people need to just apply for a new one and have the meter replaced for free. “We have more than 4000 meters in stock and all one has to do is fill in a form and have their meter replaced free of charge,” said Chafesuka.
As the budget consultations are underway for 2026, the local authority said it still faces a major challenge in unpaid debts, putting a financial strain on the authority that seriously affects its operations. He said there are unpaid bills mainly from Government Departments and Mutasa RDC of USD $2 400 000 and USD$983 000 respectively.

12/12/2024

Scenes from 2024 International human rights day commemorations held in Zimunya ward 22 in Mutare.The Catholic Commision for Justice and Peace Mutare hosted the event on the 10th of December in collaboration with their partners including Zimbabwe Human rights commission(ZHRC), Tariro Foundation of Zimbabwe Trust, Ministry of Youth Empowerment,Ministry of Women's affairs and traditional leaders. Kumakomo Community Radio Fm Ngoni Dapira Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission

03/04/2024

PENHALONGA RESIDENTS LAUD CCJP MUTARE FOR FACILITATING CITIZEN- DUTY BEARER ENGAGEMENT MEETING

BY Trevor Mutisi

Fundamental human rights also entail that there should be room for communities to meet with their duty bearers to demand transparency, and community accountability from duty bearers on service provision and development planning. Residents of Tsvingwe, Penhalonga, in Mutare South Constituency had a rare opportunity to experience such an interaction just before the Easter holidays at an important stakeholder’s engagement organized by the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace- Mutare (CCJP- MUTARE).

The meeting which was convened at St Michaels Penhalonga Catholic Church, drew a sizeable crowd, eager to engage with their duty bearers who did not disappoint either, coming in their numbers. The cast included representatives from the District Development Coordinators Office in Mutasa (DDC), the Mutasa District Social Services Ministry wing, Ministry of Youth Affairs, and the Honourable Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution, rightly represented by Ms Sithole. People living with disabilities were also represented.
The CCJP- Mutare team outlined the objectives of the engagement, highlighting the importance of ensuring that duty bearers respond to issues being raised from the communities. Driven by the social teachings of the church, the organization uses a multi- faith approach to reach out to communities, providing them a platform to interact and work for the common good of their own communities. This is facilitated in a peaceful, tolerant atmosphere which ensured that all participants contributed for the common good of the initiative.
Even the Mutare branch coordinator for CCJP, Mr Vengesa, who was in attendance, reiterated the importance of community participation towards the achievement of Vision 2030. He said, ‘The reason why we are here is to engage communities in an initiative that helps them to realize the importance of initiating development projects that can sustain their future. The Vision 2030 mantra should be appreciated at community level since communities are responsible for developing their own areas. In this vein, bringing duty bearers closer to their communities becomes paramount in importance as this ensures that issues that are being raised at the grassroots level are elevated to the responsible offices for auctioning.’

The community presented emerging issues raised in previous discussions. They questioned the payment of school fees to deserving vulnerable children, highlighting that in some instances, learners from the constituency were being denied the right to education due to non- payment of school fees. Even the people with disabilities had an opportunity to present a paper on their recommendations to parliament on their reactions to the disability bill.
Issues that were also highlighted including the banning of third party payments via the swipe method, the provision of sufficient water for residents, the long distances walked by school children especially those attending secondary education among other issues. Mr Mugowe Mandimutsa said, ‘We are worried by the long distances that children have to walk to reach the nearest secondary school in some wards.”
A local councilor lamented the absence of will power from some rogue elements of the community to bury the political hatchet and work on non- partisan basis. Clr Mandimutsa said, ‘ at times it is difficult to engage communities on development issues because they downplay your contributions if you do not belong to their party. “ But authorities from the DDC Mutasa office said it is important for councilors to stamp their authority and help bring together communities divided on partisan lines.
The responses by the representative of the Minister of State for Manicaland Provincial Affairs and Devolution brought a sigh of relief to participants as she cemented the important role that communities play in the development of their communities. She said that the issues raised can be categorized on short term and long term tiers, noting that the solutions were in the citizen’s hands.
Angel Pandura, a resident of Tsvingwe applauded CCJP- Mutare for affording them an opportunity to meet important representatives of government. She said, ‘ it is a rare opportunity to meet such a high powered delegation to interface on issues that are emerging from our communities. We had an opportunity to air our concerns to them, at the same time getting clarification on some important decisions, some which we thought were unjust. Of importance is the issue of Child Care Workers, we were complaining that most of these are elderly people who may fail to address the needs of the youths. But l learnt this this is strategic noting that it is true that most young CCW s may relocate due to marriage and may fail to have time to execute their duties efficiently. In addition we also got clarity on how local authority officials should spearhead debate in council meetings highlighting community development issues that are coming from the people.”
The Vision 2030 mantra seeks to ensure that the country is an upper middle class economy come 2030. As such it becomes paramount in importance to ensure that sustainable development goals are achieved by then in so much so that communities access the best services from local authorities. The District arms of the government in Mutasa are ensuring that communities are benefitting from the various initiatives targeting the uplifting of livelihoods for communities. At the meeting it was revealed that the government reacted to the HIV/ AIDS pandemic havoc which resulted in more child- headed families by creating the Basic Education Assistance Model. To complement that communities are benefitting from the social welfare and services department which is mitigating in times of disasters, and as well creating awareness on coming disasters. If promises to act on the presented issues are harmoniously carried out, residents in Penhalonga will continue to get value added services.

24/03/2024

CCJP provided a platform for citizens to meet with duty bearers through Citizen Duty Bearer Engagement meetings,a platform that allows citizens and duty bearers to meet and ensure citizens can exercise their civil and political rights to participatory and accountable governance and to speak up and demand action and accountability on critical human rights issues. During one such meeting in Mutasa ward 13 at St Barbara's Mission ,human rights defenders, marginalized community (women, youth, People with disabilities), met with ward 13 Councilor Maxwell Medzani,Representative of Hon. Benza MP for Mutasa Central Constituency, Distribution Committee ward level, Women Affairs ward Rep,and Traditional Leaders.Among issues discussed were isssues of unequal distribution of food and inputs,worrying trend of child marriages predicted to be even more due to poor yields this season, low participation of women in leadership positions,unemployment issues and drug abuse issues among the youths.Representatives from youths,women and people with disabilities presented their issues and duty bearers responded to the issue after the presentations.

19/03/2024

Councillor Kadozora of Ward 2 in Sakubva takes time to explain to people in his ward about the Presidential Title deeds scheme,giving a checklist of what is required and where to submit the documents for considerarltion. Documents needed for submission include offer letter,agreement of sale,cession document where available and deceased estate documents in case the owner is deceased.

27/02/2024

Village women exposed to counterfeit family planning pills.

By T. Mutisi
The provision of essential family planning pills to women remains critical in Zimbabwe and the whole world at large. In Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council spearheads the provision of these essential pills which are managed via local clinics.
In recent years, the number of women taking birth control pills has risen with statistics provided by the World Health Organization showing that over 1.2 billion women are taking birth control pills. In countries like China, families are encouraged to have very few children as the country battles to control the birth rate.
Reports indicate that current contraceptive use has increased with age from 37 percent among women aged 16-19 to almost 74 percent among women aged 40-49. In Zimbabwe the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council which was established by an Act of Parliament, seeks to provide rights based quality integrated family planning services through innovation and coordination. This has been benefitting mostly women who play a significant role in controlling births.

The free distribution of birth control pills is one such facility which females in Gandayi area could benefit from if it is coordinated from a local clinic. A visit to Gandayi in Mutare South constituency has revealed that females in the area are now exposed to counterfeit birth control pills, exposing themselves to cancerous illnesses in the process. Mrs Previous Rushinga revealed that it is difficult to go to the clinics and they opt to go to the black market where they get these pills. Rushing said, “ Sometimes we opt for the black market pills and at times we buy counterfeit expired birth control pills imported illegally. This leads to unwanted pregnancies. “

Information gathered from the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council shows that females have access to birth control devices and pills. However, villagers in Gandayi have called for the decentralized distribution of family planning pills as well as the Pre- exposure prophylaxis, and post exposure prophylaxis. Pre- exposure prophylaxis (PREp) is HIV medicine that is taken to reduce the chances of getting HIV infection. PREP is used by people who do not have HIV but are at high risk of being exposed to HIV through, for example, unprotected s*x. However, post exposure prophylaxis are taken exactly as instructed and for 28 days. Previous Rushinga said she does not have sufficient knowledge on these prophylaxis but remains optimistic that they can go a long way in reducing the spreading of HIV.
She went on to say, “ I have heard about the pills and that they are very effective in reducing the spreading of HIV. We call upon authorities to increase access to these pills especially to females because our men are always going out and sometimes engage in risky behaviour. ‘

Our request is that those responsible for the distribution of birth control pills to come to our area and distribute these pills. She said, “Travelling to a clinic which is very far away is inconvenient. Most of us are buying the pills at the market when we go to town, sometimes buying at the black market. We end up buying expired counterfeit pills which are smuggled from nearby countries and sold cheaply at the markets. We sometimes share these tablets and this may disturb the cycle on taking these pills.”

05/08/2023

Ziva wauri kutaura naye pamasaisai Zimbabwe Association of Community Radio StationsZimbabwe Association of Community Radio Stations - ZacrasZacras Africa Check Kumakomo Community Radio

14/05/2023

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2325272667680028&id=1085038525036788&sfnsn=mo&mibextid=RUbZ1f

Citizens' role in community development.

18/12/2022

Manicaland Golf set to scale dizzy heights

By Trevor Mtisi

Most people have heard that golf is a gentlemen]s game and probably it is the reason why many have stayed away from the it. Golf is a gentlemen’s game because it is played with a sense of social integrity, moral, and camaraderie. One great golfer Phil Mickelson was once quoted saying that the objective of golf is not just to win but to play like a gentleman and win.

Nearly a hundred new coaches underwent a two day training workshop hosted by the Mutare Golf Association at Hillside Sports Club and the newly established Eve Golf Academy in Mutare last Thursday and Friday (15-16 December, 2022), in a move that is aimed at reviving grassroots development of the sport in Manicaland.

The two day event was fully sponsored by the Royal and Ancient, which is the world golf governing board, an equivalent of what FIFA is to football, and the Zimbabwe Golfers Association.

Hosts Manicaland Golf Association provided three highly competent coaches who took the participants through their paces in the event which organisers said was well subscribed. Eve Golf Academy Proprietor and coach Caleb Kunze was ecstatic with the high level participation and couldn’t hide his joy for the future of grassroots golf development in the province. He said, “This is a very high response ever noted in terms of training coaches and we are so happy that all the corners of Manicaland Province were represented at this training workshop. 83 of the participants were teachers who interact with learners directly and this will go a long way in ensuring that grassroots development of golf is achieved in Manicaland.”

A Zimunya based teacher, Wesley Winter Bangano was on cloud nine, thanking organisers for the free training, despite raising fears that it may prove costly to get the golf equipment. Mr Winter said, “ Iam very happy to be afforded this opportunity to train for free. This is a very positive move for the development of the game in the province and Zimbabwe at large. However, the equipment comes at a cost and l hope the association will help with the equipment for the game to kick off in schools.”

Seasoned sports administrator Daniel Kuwengwa who was part of the participants, called upon the participants to take advantage of such courses to develop the sport. He pointed that participants can take part in the development of the sport at any level, be it as players, coaches, or officials. Sports and Recreation provincial coordinator for Manicaland Mr Shupikai Berejena and Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture official Mr Prince Mutsvunguma were part of the organizing cast which ensured that even other line ministries sent in their representatives. In particular, the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services, Mutare Teachers College and Marymount Teachers Colleges also had participants who took part in the training.

Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education Inspector in Mutare District, Mr Edson Mapungwana graced the closing ceremony and called upon participants to embrace the tenets of the game which promotes gentle behaviour in communities riddled with rising cases of drug abuse and gender based violence. Said Mr Mapungwana,, “ This training should be taken seriously because it is very important for the development of golf and other sporting activities in the schools. The game of golf is underpinned by good ethical values and gentlemen’s behaviour. These values are very important especially noting that our societies are now riddled with drug abuse cases by young learners, and rising gender based violence. The game should therefore be used to teach good values and l call upon the participants to develop the game of golf at grassroots level. “

The training ended with the closing ceremony at Hillside Sports Club, where the current ZPGA President Mr Martin Chikwana was once a household name, amid pomp and funfare as participants will later receive certificates, while future in service workshops will be lined up.

17/07/2022

Voter education and voters roll inspection has commenced in the country. In Manicaland a number of centres have been put in place at the usual polling centres with the ZEC deploying sufficient personnel to carry out the two crucial activities. Citizens are encouraged to participate in the voters roll inspection which enables then to check if their details are appearing on the voters roll and also to check if their names are correctly captured.