Lupane East legislator, Mbongeni Dube, has refuted claims that he has been absent in the constituency following his election into public office in 2019.
Dube of ZANU-PF succeeded Sithembile Gumbo of the same party who had won the seat in 2018 but later died in April the following year, triggering a by-election.
Posting on CITE social media platforms recently some people of Lupane East accused Dube of being inaccessible since he assumed the office, adding he was not doing much to spearhead developmental projects in the constituency.
“Madoda sicela ama-interview lo MP we Lupane East lokhe wawinayo kabonakali,”
said someone on CITE social media platforms.
“Imali ye CDF yena kayiphiwanga na? Bheka imigwaqo ifile for example …usuka eSt Luke’s strip road kufiwe ibridge lafela abantu lapha ebubi river EDALUKA lakho uthule le klinika sibangani village kuWard 19 uthini abantu abavunanga ukudla kee? Khona ezabuya edinga usekelo futhi? Siyacela (sic).”
Dube, however, said the claims were far from the truth.
“The first thing that I would like to know is: who is the person who raised those issues?” said the MP.
“Is it someone from Lupane East or is it just some other citizen speaking from elsewhere from an uninformed position? If that person is from Daluka, they should be aware of the projects taking place in Daluka.”
He explained further: “Daluka is one of the wards that benefited from the CDF (Constituency Development Fund) he claims is not aware of. Let’s start with the road he is talking about. Isn’t he saying a road is needed there? We had to remove the tar which was there using devolution funds. Secondly, is he really aware of how much we were allocated under CDF? The bridge that he speaks of requires a lot of money. We were only allocated ZWL$11 million this year and you can’t do a bridge with ZWL$11 million.”
Dube said the clinic in the area benefitted from the CDF.
“It is a project that was started by the late MP Honourable Gumbo and I had to carry it over,” he said.
“Otherwise it is a project which is drawing us back compared to other projects. We bought those people all the materials but they are too lazy to work. We had to go and camp there to ensure that they build and finish. I think this person does not attend meetings. Do you know that most of the time the MP is not always among the people? The person that is always among the people is the councillor. Whenever I come, I talk to the councillor who then takes the message to the people.”
The legislator also explained that ward projects are not planned by the MP.
“This person speaks of things that he does not have knowledge of,” he said.
“All I can encourage him to do is to attend meetings. With the CDF, usually by mid-year, we would be done with it and the other thing about CDF, we do not fund two projects per ward. Like this year what we did, we have been following all schools built under the devolution fund.”
He added: “We bought furniture and sent it to schools. Sometimes people come to social media not knowing what they are talking about. When people come to social media they should be clear on what they are talking about, not just say things carelessly because you hate me.”
