Gwanda North CCC candidate promises jobs, opportunities for locals in manifesto
Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) aspiring Member of Parliament for Gwanda North, Desire Nkala has vowed to create opportunities for locals should he be voted into power.
Addressing community members at a meeting convened by Gwanda’s traditional leader, Chief Khulumani Mathema, at Sitezi recently, Nkala said local people were missing out on a lot of opportunities.
He said people from neighbouring provinces were getting opportunities which should be rightfully reserved for local people.
“We have big companies here, especially mines, that can employ local young people. You find that there are mines here in Matabeleland that have menial job vacancies, which do not require skilled labour. Locals do not get opportunities to be employed there. The fact that those in managerial posts are from other provinces, they grant these jobs opportunities to their kinsmen. Local jobs should be reserved for local people,” Nkala said.
“We also have higher and tertiary education institutions but our children do not get access to these. Preference is given to people from outside provinces. At the end of the day, we are looked down upon because of lack of education.”
Nkala said he will advocate for the employment of local teachers at local schools so that there can be preservation of language and culture.
“I will advocate for the rights of people. We realise that our schools are now flooded with teachers from neighbouring provinces who do not have an appreciation of our language and culture,” he said.
“This is how culture gets distorted at grassroots level. If children are taught the wrong things in schools, it becomes difficult to rectify the situation at a later stage. This is a deliberate ploy to downplay the importance and upholding of our culture.”
Nkala added that there was a lack of health institutions in their area and an inadequate supply of medication.
“Our area does not have enough health care institutions. People walk long distances to clinics and hospitals. If we take Sibona, for example, there is a plan that was drawn to build a clinic but up to now nothing has been done. Even at the clinics that are working, you find that there is no medication. People merely go there for courtesy visits to health care workers because they don’t get any medication to make them feel better,” he said.
Nkala will battle it out with Zanu PF’s Lungisani Twominutes Ncube for the seat in the August 23 polls.
