TO: The First Secretary and President of ZANU (PF), Commander-in- chief of the Zimbabwe Defense Forces, Head of Cabinet and Government , President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, His Excellency, Comrade R. G. Mugabe.

Your Excellency, we the people who have herewith appended our signatures, hereby humbly and collectively make this earnest and heartfelt plea to His Excellency to intervene and exercise his legendary magnanimity, benevolence and pragmatism to influence the relocation of the toll gate which has been erected somewhere between the 30 and 35km pegs on the Seke – Wedza road. We beg that, in order to redeem this important area of human settlement from imminent demise, the endeavor be kindly relocated further up the road to exclude Dema Growth Point and its locality.

The positioning of the toll-gate on this particular spot, Comrade President, greatly imperils our livelihoods and adversely affects the economic well-being of the majority of the residents, students, farmers and business people of wards 1 to 4 of Seke Communal Lands. These 4 wards are, collectively, the most densely populated wards within the jurisdiction of the Manyame Rural District Council, our local authority here. Incidentally, these wards also constitute the immediate hinterland of Dema Growth Point which is located about 10km up the road from the toll-gate on the boundary between wards 2 and 3.

Your Excellency, as far as Growth Points go, Dema Growth Point is in an awkward if not outright shameful as well as pitiful class of its own. The place has no Post Office, no proper District Hospital, no tertiary or vocational training institution, no Grain Marketing Board Depot, no bank, no industry, no private doctor, no pharmacy, no wholesaler and not even a decent supermarket. All the while, Dema is supposed to be the flagship of the whole district! Dema Growth Point’s development has been stifled and stunted by its intimacy with and proximity to Chitungwiza and Harare. In order to access the basic everyday goods and services as well as markets and employment opportunities that these absent institutions may offer, the majority of the sizeable population of Dema and its surrounding wards, find themselves with no option but to be on the move to Chitungwiza and Harare each morning and, of cause, back to Dema past this toll gate. In reality, Dema is nothing but a dormitory or satelite settlement for Chitungwiza and Harare.

The grim lack of essential economic infrastructure and the ensuing dearth of economic activity has left businesses at Dema Growth Point entirely dependent on and geared to providing leisure and recreational facilities for customers from Chitungwiza and Harare. It does not take the slightest stretch of imagination for anyone to realize that this toll gate has, for all intents and purposes, severed Dema Growth Point’s life-line and umbilical cord. The farmers, students and general populace of its hinterland have also been subjected to the same pitiless fate. Our way of life for generations has been irreparably disrupted by the erroneous placing of this toll gate.

Your Excellency, we recognize and submit to the fact that our great nation is currently going through harsh economic times largely, if not entirely, as a result of the cruel and illegal economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by Britain and her allies. At this juncture, it is undeniable that the national treasury needs every proverbial cent that it can lay its hands on. However, it is not entirely inconceivable that at some point in the future, His Excellency’s righteousness shall prevail over the evil scheming of the west and those illicit sanctions shall be scrapped. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the Seke-Wedza Road Toll gate. Without your timely intercession, Comrade President, all succeeding generations of our community shall forever be subjected to what we consider might have been a simple case of slight over-sight on the part of the concerned operatives on the ground.

All our hopes of relief and redemption lie with your esteemed person and office, Gushungo.

AUTHORED BY KENNEDY URAYAI MAKUMBE

CHAIRMAN: MANYAME RURAL DISTRICT CHAMBER OF SME’s.

C/O MAKUMBE HOTEL

STAND 1551

DEMA GROWTH POINT

SEKE

CELL: 0772 340 903

E-MAIL: kennedymakumbe5@yahoo.com