BY RICHARD MUPONDE
FIRST LADY Auxillia Mnangagwa is expected to commission the San community irrigation scheme next Saturday, a month after production started, with the project now flourishing with fresh vegetables.
The solar project is situated in Makhulela area, over 100km from Plumtree town.
First Lady, through the Angel of Hope Foundation, visited the remote area in June last year and promised to set up the solar-powered irrigation scheme to benefit 45 families.
This was after she had commissioned a borehole she drilled for the same community the same year.
A year later, the promise was fulfilled after the department of irrigation finished setting up the equipment and is now awaiting commissioning.
Bulilima acting district administrator Nyasha Majonga yesterday confirmed the First Lady’s date with the San people to the Bulililma Civil Protection Unit, and invited government departments to attend the function.
“We are all advised of the First Lady (Amai) Auxillia Mnangagwa’s visit to the San community garden in Makhulela on July 26. We are, therefore, inviting all to attend,” Majonga said.
The irrigation scheme was now functional and flourishing with vegetables watered by the solar-powered pump.
The garden was promised the San people by the First Lady in June last year in the run up to the harmonised elections.
The project has reportedly brought smiles to the San families who would live from hand-to-mouth for over 20 years following their removal from Mabhongwane Game Park in the mid-1990s by the government of former President Robert Mugabe.
Bulilima West legislator Dingimuzi Phuti (Zanu PF) has heaped praise on the First Lady and President Emmerson Mnangagwa for the project which he said would help the San people, who had for long been neglected.
“I’m so elated that this is happening to these people, the San, who most people have not been taking care of. It also amplifies the President’s passion for agriculture and food security. The First Lady is, indeed, a champion,” Phuti said.
