Goats Project Shrouded In Controversy

A year later, targeted Insiza youths have not yet received goats they were promised by the Ministry of Youth, Sports, Arts and Recreation.

BY VUSINDLU MAPHOSA | @The_CBNews | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | OCT 31, 2021

Goats that were reportedly meant for church youth from the Ministry of Youth, Sports, Arts and Recreation have not been delivered a year later. Now, it's unclear who received the animals.

INSIZA (The Citizen Bulletin) — A goats’ project which was initiated by the Ministry of Youth, Sports, Arts and Recreation targeting youth in churches under the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe in Insiza last year, has turned out to be a hoax for the community members after a year of waiting.

The hopes, the joy and the chances of success seemed so near yet so far for the youth, as the community members who belong to the churches under EFZ celebrated when the government hinted on the goats to be delivered to the community for disbursement to the targeted youth.

But a year after the announcement, the targeted youth have still not received anything. The Church members say the last time they heard of the goats was that they were to be kept at the Pangani Vocational Training Centre and they have no clue of where they are.

Christ Tabernacle Church Pastor Wonder Mushonga says they are worried that when the goats were talked about Pastors were made to inform the congregants that the goats had arrived for disbursement to the youth, but now it is not clear what is happening.

“What worries us is that we had informed the congregants that there are goats brought for youth, but now there is no way forward. It’s not clear and it would appear as if this whole thing died in the hands of pastors.”
Wonder Mushonga, pastor at Christ Tabernacle Church

Some sections of the community claim that the goats which the ministry promised to deliver were 200.

However, Family of God Church Pastor Chris Ndlovu who is the district Chairman of EFZ says he is not aware if the goats had been brought targeting church youths.

“I do not know that those goats were targeted at church youth, but I saw the goats, they are good. I saw them when passing by at Pangani. I do not know that they were targeted to church youth, if so they are very good, please find out and if you get something just inform me please,” Ndlovu says.

Another congregant Sibonile Mdluli says the community is not benefiting from the goat rearing project.

“Last year there were goats which were sent to the Pangani Vocational centre from the Ministry of youth. We were advised that the youth from all churches were supposed to benefit from the project,” she says.

“A committee last year was chosen to take care of the projects, but until now their goats are still at the training centre, they have not been distributed and we wonder what is going on.”

Pangani Vocational Training Centre also runs a goat-keeping project with the youth being the most active beneficiaries. Indications are that the project now has a herd of more than 206 goats, but last year, they lost 100 goats due to drought.

It is noted that the student goats’ incubation hub project started in 2018 and now has a herd of 206 goats. The project has also been crippled by financial constraints.

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Another congregant Sibongile Sibanda says many projects targeting Insiza were just disappearing in the hands of other people and need to be looked into.

“Pangani Training Centre had its animal husbandry department deserted because of lack of funding. Now that churches lost the goat project, it will benefit individuals instead of its initial purpose,” she says.

“Since it was launched officially, why is the agenda of these goats failing? The project was brought under the Evangelical Fellowship group of Churches.”

Pangani Training Centre Principal Hilton Moyo dismissed the claim that there were goats meant for the church youths at the institutions.

“It's news to me, I have not been given such information,” he says.

Deputy Minister of Youth Tinomudaishe Machakaire was repeatedly not picking his mobile phone and did not respond to questions sent to his WhatsApp chat box.

Insiza District Development Coordinator Zacharia Jusa could not comment on the matter saying he was attending meetings.

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