SEEING him sitting at the high table among other dignitaries and leading the way around the place, you would think he was a man with great powers. Smartly clad in a greyish suit and comfortably sitting next to Tim Cole, the British government's second most senior official in Zimbabwe, Abednico Bhebhe really did look important and powerful.

Although he has no legal hold over the people of Nkayi South in Matabeleland North, some people at a gathering to commission a borehole at a district hospital adoringly referred to Bhebhe as "our Member of Parliament, a man with the people of Nkayi at heart".

But Bhebhe, together with two other MPs, were ousted from Parliament last August after they were expelled from their MDC party.

According to the Zimbabwe Electoral Act, by-elections should have been called for within 90 days. But the Global Political Agreement suspended the holding of elections for one year. That period lapsed on the agreement's first anniversary on September 15 this year.

Bhebhe said he cannot wait for a by-election.

"The three months have since elapsed and we are getting impatient," he said. "I have instructed my lawyers to make a court application to force the principals to announce the names of the ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) members. I know this will assist in the running of those by-elections.

"Even if that by-election is called for today, I am very confident the people of Nkayi South will vote for me."

While he waits for the by-election, Bhebhe continues with his constituency duties which he initiated before his expulsion. Last Wednesday, he officiated at the British Embassy's official handover of a borehole to Nkayi District Hospital.

When he was still MP, Bhebhe approached the embassy for assistance in curbing the hospital's water problems which were worsened by last year's cholera epidemic.

"The outbreak forced hospital staff to fetch water from outside the hospital and patients had to bring 20 litres of water each", Matabeleland North provincial medical director, Irene Ndiweni said.

"This greatly increased the risk of cholera as people brought water from all sources including unprotected wells and rivers.

"There was therefore need for the hospital to have safe water and we are grateful to Mr Bhebhe who took the initiative to request help from the embassy."

The embassy financed the drilling of the borehole within the hospital premises.

The project included an installation of a 5 000-litre tank for the borehole, an electric motor to pump the water and piping to connect the borehole with various points in the hospital.

After thanking the embassy for its assistance, Bhebhe, put forth another begging bowl on behalf of the hospital.

"In our culture, when you receive something, you have to thank the provider," he said.

"We thank the British High Commission very much. They have supported us before, they are supporting us today and we hope they will continue supporting us as our problems are numerous but our hands are too short.

"This is our only referral hospital in the district and we would like to make it as comfortable and habitable as possible. Among other problems facing us, the staff quarters are in a perplexing state that I am scared there could be a lot of disaster if heavy rains were to fall one of these days."

The staff quarters, together with a training centre and some wards at the hospital have a blocked sewer system.

Ndiweni said the sewer pipes were old and needed replacement.

Workers from the Public Works department dug up some of the pipes but did not complete the repairs, leaving open pits which now pose a hazard to staff and students.

She said the hospital also lacks accommodation for staff and faced transport challenges as they did not have an ambulance.

"They have a real problem with that sewer system," Cole, the British deputy ambassador, said after commissioning the borehole and touring the hospital.

"People cannot always rely on donations but we will consider their plight."

The hospital is the largest referral centre in the district, servicing 14 other clinics and with a bed capacity of over 100.

The borehole is part of the embassy's US$50 000 water project in Nkayi, which also benefited two other communities.

Other recent projects by the embassy include the building of classroom blocks and the provision of furniture and textbooks to three schools in the district.

Cole said he was also looking at ways of fundraising for Mpumelelo High School where he was a teacher in 1990 and 1991 under a British voluntary scheme.