A Gutu Rural District Council subcommittee yesterday approved Zanu PF secretary for security, Lovemore Matuke’s application to build a clinic less than six months after rejecting a similar project by MDC-A president Nelson Chamisa.
The town board committee chaired by Gabriel Mapepa approved Matuke’s private clinic, to be known as Sandon Clinic.
It will be built at Mpandawana Growth Point just across Munhende River along Gutu – Chatsworth road.
According to council officials who presented the application to the committee, Sandon Clinic will primarily serve Matuke’s private school called Sandon which is more than 10km away from Mupandawana.
The development has been viewed by some observers as a clear show of double standards and politicisation of development.
Last year the same council rejected a bigger hospital and school project proposed by Chamisa for rural Mawunga.
According to Masvingo Mirror, the rural people to be served by Chamisa’s hospital project travel 70km to the nearest hospital and are therefore in a worse situation than those at Mpandawana Growth Point where Matuke’s clinic will be built.
Moreover, Sandon Clinic is going to be built 800m from Gutu Rural Hospital, the second-largest hospital in Gutu District.
Matuke’s clinic is also 9km from Gutu Mission Hospital, the biggest referral hospital in the district.
The approval of Matuke’s project now awaits the endorsement of the full council.
Meanwhile, Matuke also recently started an ambulance business in Masvingo under the name Trans-care Emergency Medical Services.