By Margaret Kamba
There is always a danger of allowing projects of a high magnitude to become white elephants if people do not buy into a vision.
The failure to also own a particular project and appreciate its ability to transform lives is detrimental.
His Excellency President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa has launched many projects in all the country's ten provinces, and all of them speak into the vision of uplifting the lives of the people of Zimbabwe.
Makorokoro Nutrition Garden in Jinjika Village, Matabeleland South Province, was launched on 15 December 2021.
The facility houses a fish pond, an irrigation scheme, a livestock dip tank, a washing facility and toilets still has its beneficiaries benefitting from it.
A surprise visit to the facility saw the ZANU PF Information and Publicity Department learning a lot about the impact the place has had on the community.
The 150 plus members are at awe with the love and consideration of their leader President Emmerson Mnangagwa whom they showered with thanks the whole time.
They have been awakened and they never thought the crops they grow in their garden could be grown in their hot low rainfall region.
The livestock dip targets are on course and this has seen no casualties.
Dumisani Moyo a para-veterirarian for the area said "when President Mnangagwa brought us this irrigation scheme, the dip tank was put close to it. We had been failing to ward off livestock diseases before but now we are able to. At the moment we have dipped the cattle 26 times out of the recommended 28 times, meaning we are left with only two dipping tanks. We have managed to dip the 1882 cows through this dip tank and so we are very grateful to President Mnangagwa for this show of love for us," Cde Moyo said.
"We have two dip tanks but the other one in Shashi has a problem that it is in a grazing land and is prone to human-wildlife conflict as elephants come to the area."
Langton Mazonde said the coming in of the irrigation scheme had united the surrounding villages.
"Since the launch of this project by President Mnangagwa, other villages such as Bango, Makorokoro and Mukologo have been united through this garden. They come here to buy produce such as fish, cabbages, spinach, butternuts, tomatoes, carrots and onions," Mazonde said.
"I come from the Mukologo village and people there always asked me why I would travel the long distance to Makorokoro and I said to them this man (President Mnangagwa) has a great vision and I want to be part of it. They have seen the vision and here it is."
Janet Moyo also a beneficiary of the irrigation scheme said they "never thought that we could do fish breeding here and even earn income from it. We have produced 50 kilogrammes and sold at 2, 50 South African Rands per kilogrammes. We also grow carrots, beetroot and carrots among others."
Some of the incomes have seen the Sekusile Garden beneficiaries earning 57 716 ZAR, 38 820 ZAR, 60 195 ZAR.