GWANDA North traditional leader Chief Khulumani Mathema has bemoaned the lack of critical facilities such as schools and clinics, which forces people to travel long distances in search of them.
Chief Mathema said the areas under his jurisdiction — Simbumbumbu, Mapane, Mayezane, Sibhula and Sizeze villages — lack critical service facilities.
“In terms of schools, we only have few and this makes it difficult for the children to attend. We have few secondary schools within our area and it forces children to walk long distances. This discourages them from attending classes,” he said.
The traditional leader said the school infrastructure was nowhere near good standards unlike schools in other provinces are.
“The schools that exist do not have adequate resources like textbooks, which makes it hard for children to receive proper education. This has resulted in the schools producing poor results,” he said.
Chief Mathema said what makes matters even worse is the fact that internet connectivity for the few available schools is a dream, hence pupils cannot search for information on the internet to enhance their academic studies.
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He said even the health facilities are not in good shape and they have to rely on Simbumbumbu Clinic, which is quite a distance to get to.
“From my homestead to the clinic, I travel around 12km, which is a long distance. The clinic does not have adequate medication, which puts the lives of the ordinary person at high risk,” Chief Mathema said.
“We appeal to the government to intervene so that the services we require are bought near us so that we are able to access them.”