SIKOONGO Ward councilor, Progress Mangaba, has disclosed that families in his area district which were identified as vulnerable, were given relief maize by government on Wednesday.
Mr. Mangaba also appealed to government to send more relief maize to his ward to avert this year’s hunger situation which has caught people unprepared.
He said the maize fields have completely dried up and now the people are just letting their livestock to graze through the fields due to lack of grass.
The Sikoongo ward councilor appealed to the government to consider providing people in his ward with a permanent source of water in order for them to stop walking long distances to access the commodity.
“Most water sources in the ward have dried up and people are forced to walk long distances to neighbouring wards to fetch it,” he said.
Mr Mangaba told The Sun that he was grateful that most of girls in the ward had been enrolled at Sikoongo primary school, a situation he said would help promote girl education.
He also disclosed that cases of early marriages and teenage pregnancies have drastically decreased in his area due to sensitization of people on the importance of educating.
He called on the communities to report any cases of teenage pregnancies and child marriages.
He thanked government for constructing Njame primary school which he said has decongested Sikoongo primary school and motivated children to attend school.
“Children no longer walk a long distances like in the past,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Mr Mangaba has called on the government to urgently complete the construction of Sikoongo secondary school in order to stop parents from sending children to schools outside the district.
Councilor Mangaba expressed happiness that households in his ward were complying with Chief Sikoongo and Chirundu town council’s directive to erect toilets.
He disclosed that sixty percent of the families in the ward have dug pit latrines and was hopeful that every household there will have access to a clean toilet by the end of the year.
He has warned that those who will fail to comply will be answerable to the chiefdom.
