By Tinaani Nyabereka
Gweru – Residents and Ratepayers Association (GRRA) last week engaged office bearers and residents on service delivery accountability to improve service provision in the City.
Speaking during an engagement meeting in Gweru last week, GRRA Director Cornelia Selipiwe said it was important for the community to take a lot and account for development in their respective communities for progress.
He added, that with female councilors on board, it was key to give councilors time to align policies and implementation of operations on the ground.
“The purpose of this engagement is for us to find out where we are in terms of development, checking progress as we have councilors in the chambers formulating policies to serve the communities. Remember the challenges we have are broad; we have issues with water supply, sewer, and roads, so we want to find out where we are, and whether there are any changes. That is the purpose of the meeting,” said Selipiwe.
Ward 1 Councillor, Miriam Mangwanya, said she was working tirelessly to improve service delivery in the city and her ward.
“We have a lot of issues in our city which need urgent redress. Our roads, and our drainages are in bad shape but efforts are being made to make sure that we deliver the much-needed services.
“Of late water is a serious challenge, we are having pumping challenges due to some issues which include electricity, breakdown of pumps and pipe bursts.
“However we are always on the ground to ensure that we enable residents to get water for use. We are still pumping as per schedule so that everyone gets water,” she said.
Mangwanya added that she was going to take all the residents’ plea to the council so that the city fathers could deliberate and find lasting solutions to some of the challenges bedeviling the city.
Ward 5 resident, Tabeth Magigwana said council was taking residents for granted by overcharging for some services they were failing to provide.
“Council is holding us at ransom, we pay bills but we get nothing, we ask for updated bills, we hear we owe council a lot and at some point, we don’t get services at all.
“We don’t have water, water is a serious challenge, and we even see people fetching water in the roads and drainages to use.
“Most open boreholes in Senga are not safe considering that we always have raw sewer due to pipe bursts,” said Magigwana.
Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) Midlands Coordinator, Gracia Mashingaidze said the policy framework at council was questionable.
“We know that council and City Park moved commuter omnibuses to TM up to City Parking, but the whole road is no longer safe, observations are that, motorists are violating rules and the place is a high accident road.
“We then question the policy formulation of council policies by our local authorities, is it developmental or resource mobilization for the benefits of a few council individuals? We then need to foster strong accountability tools as well as performance ratings for deliverables which shape the city,” she said.
