IT IS home to Zambia’s second largest man-made water body, Lake Itezhi Tezhi, created in 1977. The lake lies on the Kafue River with a surface area of 370 square kilometres.
Itezhi Tezhi constituency boasts of a fishing heritage that is well acclaimed within the local angler community with many species of bream including the elusive three spot bream that attracts people to the waters.
The waters in the area provide not only fishing but hydropower and transportation.
Once faced with a seemingly inevitable slow strangulation, Itezhi Tezhi is today one of Zambia’s beacons of hope: a vast reserve with diverse habitats, impressive tourism lodges and other supporting infrastructure, and wonderful wildlife and birds.
Itezhi-Tezhi has the potential to become an investor destination in Zambia, if the challenges it has been facing for a while are addressed.
Despite the constituency being blessed with mineral resources such as copper, coal and other gemstones as well as wildlife, it remained under developed for years.
But now Itezhi Tezhi is seeing some steady development trickling into the locality.
One of the notable developments in the area is the on-going tarring of the D79 road under the Link Zambia 8000 project at a cost of K285.5 million.
The road joins the Lusaka- Mongu road in Mumbwa but it had not received a facelift in the last 30 years. As such, the movement of goods and people was adversely affected for many years.
Other projects in motion are the tarring of 10 kilometres of township roads, construction of a bus station and a market at a cost of K16 million.
“The road once complete will be a light to this area. It will bring a lot of development. Currently, we struggle on the transportation of our produce like fish and agricultural produce. This road has actually been one of the major challenges in service delivery and development,” Daala Siamuna, a resident of Itezhi Tezhi said.
Mr Siamuna said as a rural area which depends on other provincial centres for most goods and services, access has been a challenge.
“The long distance to Livingstone, the former Southern Province capital, and the deplorable state of the 109km Mumbwa – Itezhi Tezhi road (D79), are the major factors that adversely affected development and service delivery in the area when it fell under Southern Province,” Mr Siamuna said.
And commenting on the road, area Member of Parliament Greyford Monde who is also minister of Livestock and Fisheries says once completed, the road will change the face of the area.
“The road is the best infrastructural development that has ever happened in Itezhi Tezhi. As you may be aware it is said where there is a road, development follows. True to this adage, development is now coming to the area,” Mr Monde said.
Mr Monde said because of the urgency of the road to the area, Government ensured that the construction of the road was put on the Link Zambia 8000 project.
“Because of the rains and some challenges in resources, the road had stalled a bit but I’m glad that the contractor is now on site and works will soon start. The road has not been abandoned at all,” Mr Monde said.
The contractor engaged to do the road now is BuildTrust Zambia limited.
Itezhi Tezhi is a constituency as well as a district. It is one of the 11 districts in Central Province. Itezhi Tezh i constituency is located in the south-western part of the province.
It lies about 175 kilometres north of Mumbwa and 62 kilometres west of Namwala district across the Kafue River on the north bank.
Itezhi Tezhi constituency shares borders with other districts namely; Luampa in the west, Kazungula and Kalomo in the south-west, Choma in the south-east and Mazabuka in the east.
Itezhi Tezhi or ‘Itezhyi tezhyi’ which means a slippery rock is home to the Ila speaking people and has six chiefdoms namely Shezongo, Musungwa, Kaingu, Shimbizhi, Chilyabufu and Muwezwa. Muwezwa is the only female chief in the constituency.
The constituency has one district made up of 13 wards namely Itezhi Tezhi, Luchena, Mbila, Basanga, Kaanzwa, Itumbi, Masemu, Lubanda, Luubwe, Banamwaze, Makunku, Nyambo and Kabulungwe.
The constituency shares borders with other districts such as Mumbwa in the north, Kaoma in the west, Kazungula and Kalomo in the south-west, Choma in the south, Namwala in the south-east and Mazabuka in the east.
Itezhi Tezhi came to prominence in the 1970s during the construction of Itezhi Tezhi dam for the purpose of holding and regulating the flow of water in the Kafue River for use by the Kafue Gorge Upper Power Station.
This dam has paved way for the construction of a 120-megawatt hydro-power station by Zesco Limited and Tata Africa Group at a cost of US$245 million.
On education, Itezhi Tezhi has 53 primary schools, 24 community schools and four secondary schools. The secondary schools are Mbila, Shimbuwa Mboombo, Uphill Day and Itezhi Tezhi Boarding.
Mr Monde says many primary schools in Itezhi Tezhi that were built using mud, tree branches and grass are now changing to modern structures.
“We have put up more than 30 one by three classroom blocks to phase off the mud and thatched school infrastructure. Itezhi Tezhi is changing its face. I made a vow that by the end of my first term, my area should not have a mud and grass thatched school infrastructure,” Mr Monde said.
These structures are now being replaced with better ones using the Constituency Development Fund.
On the health sector, Itezhi Tezhi has one district hospital and 13 health posts.
Of the 650 health posts, Government is constructing countrywide, eight will be built in Itezhi Tezhi.
Like many other rural constituencies, Itezhi Tezhi too depends on agriculture. The constituency has 58 percent of arable land, a conducive climate and abundant water.
Currently, only maize and cotton are mainly grown in Itezhi Tezhi.
Livestock on the other hand accounts for about 35 percent of the total agricultural production with the district having an estimated 120,000 cattle. Other than cattle, farmers keep goats, pigs and also do poultry.
On tourism, the constituency has seen a lot of boom in this sector because of its position.
“Itezhi Tezhi lies in the heart of the Kafue National Park. It has the second largest man-made dam and it has the Kafue River making it a tourist attraction. Itezhi Tezhi has potential to be the country’s second major tourist destination. The area has abundant water, wildlife, a beautiful landscape, forests, heritage sites and monuments, as well as bird sanctuaries at Blue Lagoon,” Mr Monde said.
The area has a population of 64,593 according to the 2010 census of population and housing.
Like many places with river frontage, settlement patterns in Itezhi Tezhi are greatly influenced by the geographic nature of the area, with some people having settled in the urban area for formal employment and trading and others around the river.
The rest are scattered all over the plain for purposes of cattle-rearing and other agricultural activities. PUBLISHED IN THE ZAMBIA DAILY MAIL ON APRIL 3, 2016
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