BY PRESTIGE MUNTANGA GOVERNMENT has allocated $10million for the rehabilitation of Kezi Hospital in Matobo District, Matabeleland South province which has been closed for over 10 years after its roof was blown off.
Kezi villagers accused authorities of lacking the political will to renovate the hospital, as they were now forced to travel to Bulawayo, Gwanda or Maphisa for medical services.
Matobo legislator Edgar Moyo said plans were afoot to also construct a new structure since the whole building has been damaged by termites.
“I heard people saying that the government has failed to repair Kezi Hospital 13 years after the roof was blown away by heavy winds. This is not true because we went with the local department of public works to do an assessment of the whole structure,” Moyo said when contacted for comment last week.
“We noticed that the whole structure had been affected by ants and needed to be rebuilt. The building was constructed around 1941 using clay mud bricks which are not strong. The suggestions were that if the building was going to be constructed, we would have to create a new plan.”
Moyo said authorities approved building plans for a new structure in December.
“The government then allocated $10 million towards the construction of a new structure. We are waiting for the government to release the funds to commence the construction,” he said.
Moyo said they were also working on upgrading the roads as they were in bad condition.
“I understand that people are also complaining about the poor roads, especially the main road from Matopo to Kezi police. What happened is that $400 million was allocated to construct the road but the money was not used. The government prioritized emergency road rehabilitation,” he said.
“The road was then pegged; other small roads that went to the villages were also filled with sand soils. Since it is the rainy season all the soils have been washed away. We have to understand that these sand soil roads will be eroded either way. We are looking forward to upgrading the roads.”