The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and economic Development and Expanded Committee on Sustainable Development Goals began consultations for the national budget for 2023 on the 3rd of October.
Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (VISET) was in attendance for the session held at Maphisa Growth point, Matobo District l on 04 October 2023.
Major contributions from the participants were focused on education and health infrastructure development, vocational training center, ECD and STEM center, Waste Management and Climate Change. A participant emphasized on the need to allocate funds towards road infrastructure between Bulawayo and Maphisa, saying it is in dire situation and affecting access to basic services which was substantiated by Tshelanyemba Hospital representative who said patients cannot reach referral hospital on time and many lives are lost. It takes more than an hour to travel the 40 km distance, owing to the bad state of the road.
The budget should support the repair the dilapidated health infrastructure. The mentioned communities that travel more than 40km to access health services were Mkuwa, Manyane and the need to fix Kezi clinic that has been blown by wind in 2010.
It was also exposed that the public Maphisa District Hospital request patients to pay $6 USD fee to the administration to get a stamp prior to being attended to, hence the participants submitted that the government should exclude pregnant women, the elderly and children in that “unfair” prerequisite.
Other participants also submitted that the 2023 budget need to prioritise the construction of bridges, inverts and culverts as most of the bridges in the district need reparation, specifically in ward 11.
People with disabilities, said the budget should cater for their special needs like wheel chairs and crushes as well as accessibility of education specializing on them. They said people with albinism need the budget to allocate funds towards sun screen lotion facility that will be availed at hospitals and clinics.
Selbourne Hotel was next stop, where informal traders in attendance spoke on the need for market infrastructure, social protection schemes with support for medical aid and pension schemes. There is need for institutional funding in particular for women informal traders who are the majority but are the least paid economically. A contributor expressed the view of the need to have a central coordinating ministry as at present there are 3 ministries that are involved in informal economy activities, a situation that is untenable.
Other contributors spoke of greater provision of resources to the civil service for better salaries of health and education personnel. Social welfare ministry should also be allocated more resources for safety net provision for the poor and vulnerable.
Chipinge Rural District Councils (RDC) offices was next stop for our team where the development of smart, modern market infrastructure was topical, as the area is a rich horticultural region, however farmers are vulnerable to middlemen who can navigate the bad roads.
Health funding was raised by many participants, as the local clinics were ill-equipped to handle needs from the communities as there was no medication nor ambulance services.
The elderly raised concerns with the levels of drug abuse by the youths, saying there was need to allocate resources for the construction of rehabilitation facilities to try and contain the impact of the scourge.
