Story by Wadzanai Mandima
THE electrification of rural areas continues to make significant progress, with the Kazozo, Mangezi and Mukunza communities in Nyanga now connected to the national grid under the Government’s accelerated Rural Electrification Programme.
The project has brought electricity to three schools, four business centres, and a clinic, marking a major milestone in improving access to energy and supporting development in rural communities across the country.
Beneficiaries said the coming of electricity in their communities is a game-changer.
“Our daughters can now get help when they are pregnant at the local clinic,” a parent said,
“I am happy with this development as our children are now going to learn ICT just like their counterparts in towns,” a guardian said.
“We are now able to do businesses that require electricity, here I do welding and I am making a living from it,” a community member said.
Rural Electrification Agency Acting CEO Mrs Felista Makumbinde speaks on the scope of the electrification programme, which targets to electrify all rural areas in the province by 2030.
“As REA, we go to all rural areas connecting electricity, and certainly no place and no one will be left behind,” she said.
For the government, the provision of energy in rural areas is in line with President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Mantra of leaving no one and no place behind.
“The coming of electricity is in line with President Mnangagwa’s Vision 2030, which states that no one and no place will be left behind,” Nyanga North Legislator, Honourable Chido Sanyatwe said.
“The electricity has been connected for you, the residents of this area, use it effectively. We have agreed that by 2030 all rural areas should have been connected to electricity,” the Minister of Energy and Power Development, Honourable July Moyo said.
The electrification programme is in line with the government’s rural industrialisation drive, which seeks to create rural economies and transform lives under the inclusive development approach.
