Tellzim reporter

Junior High School (JSH) has shown its continuous quest towards provision of quality education to its learners following the appointment of well-seasoned educationist Munyaradzi Mataruse.

Mataruse with a wealthy experience in the education circles was appointed to the position on May 1, 2023 to join the ambitious school located in the leafy suburb of Rhodene in Masvingo.

Announcing the appointment, JSH Director Noah Marima said the school is excited on the joining on board of an experienced administrator.

“I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Munyaradzi Mataruse as the deputy head effective May 1, 2023. Mr Mataruse brings a wealth of experience to Junior High School. He joins us from Riverton Academy where he held various administrative positions over the past 16 years.

“Mr Mataruse joined Riverton Academy in 2008 and rose through the ranks from the position of teacher, Head of Department (HOD) Sciences, Senior Master and most recently deputy head and Head of Cambridge examinations,” said Marima.

Mataruse has two decades in the education field according to Marima where the former is well-travelled which points to his experience.

“Before joining Riverton, taught at Churchill High School where served from the year 2003-05. From 2006-08, he was at Mutare Girls High as the HOD Sciences.

“Please join us in welcoming Mr Mataruse to JHS. We wish him every success,” added Marima.

Among his professional qualifications, Mataruse holds a Bachelor of Science with the University of Zimbabwe (UZ), Masters of Science with Bindura University of Science Education (BUSE), MED (Chemistry) again with BUSE.

… As mining company eyes US$ 1 billion revenue in 2024

Beverly Bizeki

Sinomine owned Bikita Minerals has reiterated its aim to achieving new highs ever since the Chinese takeover in February 2022 which has marked a notable increase in revenue and productivity with the mine targeting US$ 1 billion revenue in 2024.
With the coming in of the new Spodumene Quartz Intergrowths (SQI) expected to be complete by July this year, the company is targeting to increase the revenue as well as number of employees.
Speaking during a media tour of Bikita Minerals on April 25, 2023, Bikita Minerals Finance Manager Amanda Makausi said the company has made notable improvements ever since the company changed hands with the company now being one of the biggest contributors of tax in Masvingo province.
Makausi said the company was targeting the revenue to increase to US $1 billion in 2024.
“When Sinomine took over in February 2022, we were producing plus or minus 2 500 tonnes per month and our prices were around US$ 500 per tonne. As at March 2023, we are producing plus or minus 10 000 tonnes a month and the price of Petalite has since increased due to the world market and we are selling our petalite at US$ 2 500 per tonne,” said Makausi.
Makausi highlighted that the company’s revenue has also increased from the pre Covid-19 era where the company would record plus or minus US$ 25 million annually to US$ 25 million per month.
“Our revenue is US$ 25 million per month. Pre-Covid 19 era we were doing approximately US$ 25 million annual revenue but in 2022 we recorded our sales of US$ 47 million and in 2023 we are projecting around US$ 750 million depending on the commissioning of the new plants. From 2024, we will be looking at US$ 1 billion annual revenue,” said Makausi.
The company has also recorded increases in taxes as the rate of employment and investments are ongoing.
“In terms of taxes, in 2022 we were averaging around US$ 50 000 per month in terms of employment tax but now we are contributing to around US$ 150 000 per month with a lot of indirect tax which comes in because of a US$ 200 million investment taking place in terms of expansion of the existing Petalite plant and the Spodumene plant,” explained Makausi.
Mine manager David Mwanza said the company is headed for growth since the Chinese takeover in 2022 with an increase in employment.
“In February 2022, the company had 343 employees but the number has increased to 660 as at March 2023 with the number expected to increase to 1 500 upon completion of the Spodumene plant anticipated in July,” said Mwanza.
Mwanza also said the company provides a production bonus to its workers on a monthly basis.

TellZim Reporter

Treasury is losing millions of potential foreign currency remittance taxes through operations of unregistered and unregulated international money transfer agents who have penetrated the financial services sector, across the breath and length of Zimbabwe.
An investigation on this trend has established that unregulated money transfer agents are operating in all the country’s major cities and towns while others have established offices in growth points.
The investigation, done over a month by the reporter, masquerading as a client looking for convenient ways to receive money from relatives outside Zimbabwe confirmed the existence and operations of informal money transfer agents in Masvingo that move money across the borders of Zimbabwe, bypassing the formal banking system.
The companies have offices in many other areas in Zimbabwe, with treasury losing potential revenue in both direct and indirect taxes.

How it is done
While unmediated, cross-border money transfers are not a new thing, the practice is growing rapidly and is now a preferred choice of moving money by people who are discouraged by the scrutiny in some cases, and charges, imposed by formal institutions such as banks and international money transfer agents.
Public trust is also growing, because the agents are giving out money instantly.
The trend has grown significantly lately, buttressed by its accommodation of homeward remittances by undocumented clients in countries like South Africa, Mozambique, and Botswana, who are otherwise constrained by the demands of formality.
Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat) 2022 October figures show that there are over 700 000 Zimbabweans living in South Africa alone, with only 178 000 (25percent) having work permits.
Another ZimStat report, First Quarter 2022, states that the number of formally employed people in Zimbabwe is around 900 000, which translates to 10percent of the working-age population estimates, signifying the dwindling of the formal working space.
A lot of Zimbabweans have crossed the borders into neighbouring and far-off countries, searching for greener pastures.
The upside of this is that it has grown the forex remittances base considerably. Official Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) figures show that the 2022 remittances value was pegged at over USD1.5 billion, up from USD1.4 billion in 2021, but the figures only account for remittances made through the official regulated channels.
The formal banking systems have failed to accommodate undocumented Zimbabweans outside the borders as clients for remittances, and this has emboldened and expanded the informal money transfer sector based on the use of the “hawala” system.
The hawala system allows for an informal transfer of funds from one person to another without the actual movement of money, permitting anonymity as it requires no documentation.
Arthur (not real name) is a 25-year-old who regularly receives money from his brothers in South Africa through Instant Express Transfers, a Masvingo money transfer company that has offices in the CBD and Pretoria, South Africa.
He says the system is very convenient and more accommodating than the formal channels.
“My brothers are not documented in South Africa, they are border jumpers so they cannot send money home through Mukuru. The queues are not as long. I know there are inherent risks but it is balanced out when you consider convenience,” Arthur said.
The system allows for an exchange of money without passing through the banking system or financial bodies and is prohibited in many countries including the US, Pakistan, and India among others.
In Zimbabwe’s case, unregistered money transfer companies have become hawala operators, with offices at home and abroad, mostly in South Africa and Mozambique.
They offset balances between the different offices across the borders, without money passing through the official national payment system.

Laws being broken
A lot of unregistered money transfer companies are facilitating the unregulated expatriation of funds by withholding potential funds to Zimbabwe, in direct contravention of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Act [22:15], the National Payment Systems (NPS) Act [22:43], and the Exchange Control (EC) Act [22:05]. Statutory Instrument 145 of 2017 The EC Act [22:05], which criminalize the unauthorized movement of funds to and from Zimbabwe, with such transactions categorized as “illicit”.
The statutory instrument defines “illicit transactions” as the “illegal transfer/export of foreign exchange and/or assets from Zimbabwe and/or offshore retention of foreign exchange and/or assets due to Zimbabwe, without relevant regulatory authorizations”.
Paragraph 4(7)(k) of S.I.145/2022 speaks to the operations of unregistered money transfer companies that use the hawala system by defining illegal expatriation as “…retention of funds offshore which were supposed to be received in Zimbabwe or which were not sanctioned by Exchange Control or provided for in current Exchange Control policy.”
It then seems that with more accountability and better treasury systems, the value of remittances could be much higher and contribute more to the national fiscus.
The unregistered money transfer companies have managed to grab a sizeable market share from mainstream players like Mukuru, World Remit, and Access Forex among others by offering instant transfers and quicker service times for those who are willing to take the inherent risk in no-mainstream transactions.
Lynn (not real name) is an agent for Instant Express Transfers. Her office has a desk and three chairs only, and she does all her transactions on a mobile phone which she then records in a counter book.
“The process is very simple; the system is instant. Once the sender hands over the cash to our agent in South Africa, they are given a receipt number which they then forward to you here. The same receipt number is also sent to my WhatsApp for reference then you can collect your money,” she tells this reporter.
According to Lynn, her office in Masvingo CBD is just one of Instant Express Transfers` over 20 branches around various urban centres and growth points, where they facilitate transfers to and from South Africa as well as locally.
“Our branches are many. Some around Harare, Bulawayo, Beitbridge, Jerera, Nyika, Gutu, and other places – there are 23 branches,” she said.
Several other money transfer agents in the CBD alone work the same way as Instant Express Transfers, with more being at the busy Exor cross-border bus termini on the city outskirts along the Masvingo-Beitbridge highway.
Silvia (not real name) works for one of these agents in the CBD. She reveals her company has “runner-shops” which provide the cash used to settle receipts of transferred amounts locally without the need for the cash to be sent from South Africa.
“We have shops that bring in good money locally, so we easily pay recipients here. The cash deposited in South Africa is then used there to buy “runner” orders for our shops here because things are cheaper there,” she said.
The same system is used by another agent located at Guni House in Masvingo, which has offices at Bosman bus terminus in Pretoria and in Johannesburg.
The system has become very popular to the extent that even registered cross-border transport companies now operate money transfer services, albeit without requisite licenses.
A popular logistics company runs a backroom office in the CBD which deals with money transfers only and has little to do with transport.
The unregulated hawala system that is commonly practiced by these money transfer companies prejudices the government of revenue as it circumvents both the RBZ and the ZIMRA systems.
Cross-border money transfers are not exempted from the Intermediated Money Transfer (IMMT) Tax payable to ZIMRA, determined by Statutory Instrument 92 of 2022 (S.I. 92/2022) at 4%. S.I. 92/2022 states that “…The intermediated money transfer tax chargeable in terms of section 36G of the Taxes Act shall be calculated at the rate of —…(b) zero comma zero four United States dollars or part thereof on every United States dollar transacted for each transaction on which the tax is payable.”
Silvia claims that their company handles transfers of large amounts and volumes of foreign currency for their clients.
“We can handle over US$3 000 per day as the cumulative figure, but such volumes are usually during month-end days. Our daily average is roughly 30 to 50 transactions which give between US$2 000 and US$2 500,” she said.
If a person in South Africa sends money to a relative in Zimbabwe through the formal channel, the 4percent IMMT tax is activated and becomes collectible by the government.
Commenting on the issue, finance expert and senior lecturer in the Banking and Finance Department at Great Zimbabwe University, Dr Rabson Magweva said the losses can only be calculated by the volumes of transactions.
“The net loss is 2percent transactional cost multiplied by the volumes that are being pushed,” Dr Magweva said.
He also said government losses may be difficult to quantify but they are real.
“When remittances are made through the formal banking channels, it means that the government receives IMMT tax, and effectively this means increased inflows and a wider tax base. This implies that the use of informal unregulated remittances aids tax evasion and shrinks the tax base,” said Dr Magweva.
He said some of the lost value cannot be quantified directly in monetary terms, but has long-reaching effects on the value of money in Zimbabwe.
“Our statistics become unreliable because of unrecorded transactions pushed through the informal operations of the unregistered money transfer companies, and these implications affect the formulation and implementation policies, for example, inflation or exchange rate policies, they are likely to be ineffective. Receivers of money from the informal hawala usually go directly to the black market, thus fueling the parallel market and affecting the exchange rate as well,” he said.
South African-based economist and researcher, Onias Mugowo said that these unregulated agents violate both local and international laws.
“When the cross-border transactions contravene both national and international laws, they can be considered to be either illicit financial flows or money laundering, depending on their volume and purpose,” Mugowo said.
The unregistered transfer agents are also indirectly prejudicing the government of collectible taxes as their operations reduce the market share and profits of mainstream companies.
By law, all companies must be registered to operate in Zimbabwe so they can pay appropriate registration, licensing fees, and requisite security deposits with the RBZ as contained in the operational guidelines for Authorised Dealers with Limited Authority (ADLAs) – money transfer agencies and Bureaux de change (2021).
RBZ governor Dr John Mangudya did not respond to calls while the RBZ public relations department did not respond despite asking for questions in writing.
Follow-up phone calls were made to the PR department, and they indicated that they were waiting for response and clearance from the Financial Services Unit (FSU) and the Exchange Control Unit.

Brighton Chiseva

“Touts (Mahwindi) should have a rude speaking contest with nurses and the winner should contest with civil registry employees”.

This is one of the many jokes often shared on social media that portray the treatment civil registry employees give clients at all centres, a development which results in long queues that often force people to abandon acquiring of birth and death certificates midway.
This brings in the question of whether late registration of births and deaths in Zimbabwe is a result of these inefficiencies, where the system fails to help people with special cases or it is just the reluctance of people who should prioritize getting the documents.
The Constitution of Zimbabwe together with other international statutes which Zimbabwe conforms to, stipulate that every citizen has a right to citizen registration which is having national identity documents like birth certificate or national identity card.
The question however remains unanswered but the truth of the matter is that the civil registry people often contribute to people’s failure to get the required documents in time.
Constitutionally, every birth should be registered within forty eight days while death should be registered within 30 days but recent statistics released by Zimbabwe Statistical Agency (Zimstat) from the 2022 national population and housing census indicated that more than 900 000 which translates to more than 21.1 percent of youth between 16 and 34 having no identity documents.
From the statistics, a total of 442 659 children were under one year on the census night nationally and of these, only 20.5 percent of them had birth certificates. In rural areas, 15 percent of the children under one year had birth certificates while 30 percent of their counterparts in urban areas had birth certificates.
A total of 1 308 157 persons aged between 5 and 20 years had not acquired birth certificates during the census period.
On death registration, of the 120 070 deaths that were recorded during census, 78 384 deaths which constitute 64.7 percent were registered. 30.3 percent were unregistered while 5 percent had unknown registration status.
Death registration is higher in urban areas which has 82.8 percent while rural statistics are lower with 56.8 percent.
Of these, 78 percent did not have birth records while the remainder had birth confirmation records.
However, there are a number of people who have no records at all; they have no IDs and they cannot be accounted for through the use of civil registry data.
According to Zimstat, Vital Statistics provide basic demographic and health data needed to inform policy planning and assist in monitoring progress towards attainment of government programmes and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Birth and death registration are key sources of demographic data for socio-economic development and population control in developing countries and are used to produce fundamental demographic and epidemiological measures that are needed in national planning across multiple sectors like education, labour and health.
A number of traditional leaders who spoke to this reporter said a number of issues like poverty; ignorance and requirements needed for vital statistics registration were behind poor registration especially in rural areas.
Senator Chief Nhema born Rangarirai Bwawanda of Zaka said the major challenge on birth registration was lack of knowledge among the general public coupled with accessibility as well as requirements needed for one to get a birth certificate.

He said there was need for massive education on the importance of documents as some people believe it is just needed for voting and other things of that sort.
“People don’t know the importance of having a birth certificate or a national Identity card. Right now we are going for elections, that’s when you hear people rushing to get IDs. To them it’s only important for voting and nothing else.
“Another challenge is that of requirements needed for birth registration, especially if it’s late. People are required to bring witnesses to get a birth certificate or ID. That is very dissuading. Imagine you are here in Zaka, one of the witnesses is in Harare another is somewhere else, and so there is cost of transporting those people,” said Nhema.
Though government is working on modalities to empower Chiefs to be able to issue notification records of birth and death for those who are born or die outside health institutions, Chief Nhema said that alone was not enough, saying authorities should allow traditional leaders to recommend people for birth and death registration even for other people who would have failed to acquire them in time due to different reasons.
“The authorities should allow us to write recommendations for anyone in my area because we know them. The questions that are asked when applying for these documents are just too much. We have people whom we give a place to live coming from Gokwe and when they want to go for ID or birth registration, they are asked to get a letter from a Chief in Gokwe but I know the person, I should be allowed to help,” said Nhema.
The same was echoed by Joseph Mutubuki, the Matigimu village head in Zaka who said the requirements were too much for aliens.

He said he had a situation of a man named Lucas Kumbuya in his village who had been staying there for more than thirty years but could not get a birth certificate or a national ID because he was originally from Mozambique.
“We have a current situation of a man who has since given up his quest to acquire a birth certificate or national ID. He has been living in my village for more than 30 years but all efforts to help him get these documents were in vain,” said Mutubuki.
Kumbuya narrated his story saying it was emotionally affecting him since his wife is now representing his family on all issues that require an ID.
“I was born in 1972 in Mozambique and migrated to Zimbabwe in 1980. He went to Muchechetere in 1982 doing cattle herding as a job, after which he went to Muzondidya area in 1987 before his boss migrated to Mutubuki village which is next to Matigimu. In 1991 he got married and had his first born in 1992. He travelled back to Chambuta Refugee Camp, Tongogara in 1993 and came back to Matigimu village in 1994 and was given land by the late village head Taitos Mutubuki.
“I now have six children who all bare their mother’s surname; it mentally affects me, to think that I have children who cannot be called by my name. However, I am grateful that at least they have these documents. Another issue that affects me is that I cannot exercise other rights like voting, I cannot represent my family even on aid distribution, with my wife always doing that on behalf of the family, a development that makes me feel less manly,” said Kumbuya.
Chief Chitanga born Feleni Chauke said the major reason for late registration of births and deaths was a result of distance to access the services especially in rural areas.He said government should ensure that as a temporary measure, mobile registration blitz should become a permanent feature on the civil registry calendar saying it should not be done towards election time alone while permanent solutions are being put in place.
“The issue of distance affects registration of births and deaths especially here in Mwenezi. The registry centre is far away for a number of communities and because of poverty, people tend to give priorities to immediate challenges like buying food.
“So the registry department should do more mobile registration exercises all year round and make sure that people are aware of the visiting days before they come, then with resources permitting more permanent solutions must be put in place like further decentralizing from the district registry offices,” said Chitanga.
Chief Murinye real name Ephias Munodawafa agreed with Chitanga saying poverty was a major hindrance in terms of death registration saying a number of people in rural areas have no estates that may require court administration hence once one dies, they bury and forget that children may need to use the death certificate at some point.

“Poverty in rural areas affect people when it comes to registration of death certificates, once a person is buried and has nothing that may require court administration then that’s it. Many people have an unwritten wills where people know how the estate will be distributed and in that case they don’t see any reason for registering a death certificate,” said Murinye.
On birth certificates, Murinye said failure to register a birth certificate was a clear sign of negligence on the part of parents saying birth certificates were a prerequisite for any birth in the country.
“Failure to register a birth is a clear sign of negligence from parents, birth registration is very important and should be equally be prioritized like any other basic needs. The government do decentralized registration blitz but some still fail to get births for their children. Some even fail to send kids to school and that is the same way they fail to get birth for them. However, this has a bearing on children who sometimes struggle to get the documents when they need to use them and in some cases the parents would have died,” said Murinye.
On his part, Chief Mugabe born Matubede Mudavanhu said he passed a decree in his area where every child should have a birth certificate within two weeks of being born and village heads are there to enforce that decree, failure of which the village head will be answerable.
“Laws differ from Chief to Chief but I urge my colleagues to replicate what we in Mugabe area do to make sure that people register birth certificates as early as possible. In my area, we have a policy which requires every birth to be registered within two weeks. For enforcement of this, village heads are in charge and if a birth occurs and the deadline is not met, then the village head will be answerable,” said Mugabe.
Chief Ndanga real name Wilson Makono said the Zimstat and the civil registry should avail such statistics to them as traditional leaders so that they can see how they can help to maximize vital statistics registration.
He said poor registration was pure lack of awareness on the importance of registering births and deaths saying more need to be done to conscientise people on the importance of acquiring the documents.
“People don’t know the importance of these documents that is the reason why many are reluctant to get them. A number of people now have funeral policies and they get burial orders before burying their loved ones, however, after burial they ignore getting a death certificate,” said Nyanga.
Those with unusual cases however still face a mammoth task at registry centres as the procedures to acquire the documents through the right channel become deterrent, leaving them at the mercy of corruption and being frustrated just to be registered in the national system, a basic right.

Beverly Bizeki

For 22 year-old Netsai Shoko (not real name) accessing health services in her neighbourhood for free is something she appreciates as it serves her money for travelling and paying for the services.
Shoko, who is afraid of letting her mother know that she is sexually active and is on contraceptives, is happy that the Community Working Group on Health (CWGH) has brought some of these services closer to home, sparing her the hustle of having to go to the clinic to get the injection.
These are some of the challenges that young women and girls face when accessing Sexual Reproductive Health services; fear of being judged by parents and close relatives especially when they are not married.
As the world celebrates World Immunisation Week slated for April 24 to 30, this year the week was celebrated under the theme ‘the big catch up’ and the CWGH Masvingo chapter combined the celebrations with the World Health Day celebrated on April 7 under the theme ‘Health for all’.
The celebrations were held in ward 3 Masvingo Urban where residents had access to various health services including Covid-19 vaccination, family planning services and HIV testing.
CWGH Masvingo chairperson Entrance Takaedza said the group had partnered with the Ministry of Health and Masvingo City Council in spreading information and providing health services to residents.
“As we have gathered here to commemorate the World Health Day and World Immunisation Week, we are pleased by the huge turnout of residents to get the Covid-19 vaccination and other health services for free.
“Our community monitors trained by CWGH are into researching about vaccines and other diseases affecting our communities so as to better inform the government on issues concerning health in the communities for policy making,” said Takaedza.
Ward 3 councillor Rocky Kamuzonda expressed gratitude to CWGH and other partners for bringing health services to the residents.
“I am grateful for various stakeholders who have brought their services to locals for free which is a helpful exercise for those who cannot bring themselves to seek medical attention,” said Kamuzonda.
According to a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in April, the goal of the immunization week is to get more people protected from vaccine preventable diseases.
“2023 is our global opportunity to catch-up on lost progress in essential immunization. We need to reach the millions of children who missed out on vaccines, restore essential immunization coverage to at least 2019 levels, strengthen primary health care to deliver immunization and build lasting protection in communities and countries.
“The goal of World Immunization Week is for more children, adults and their communities–to be protected from vaccine-preventable diseases, allowing them to live happier, healthier lives,” read part of the report.

…Councilors blame management over failure to implement resolutions

Tinaani Nyabereka/Yeukai Munetsi

Gweru- City Council management has come under fire from the local authority’s councillors who continuously accuse the technocrats of ‘sleeping on duty’ due to their failure to implement council resolutions
The outcry by the councillors has been heard in council chambers several times as they blame management for dragging its feet over key service delivery issues.
The recent saga involving the service vehicle which was taken by suspended Town Clerk Vakayi Douglas Chikwekwe sparked debate, with councillors accusing management of failing to implement resolutions over the said vehicle.
Another area of concern was the installation and repairing of new traffic light where councillors expressed disappointment over delays in the installation of the lights.

Service vehicles

Gweru Mayor Hamutendi Kombayi during a full council meeting held last week questioned Acting Town Clerk Livingstone Churu and Chamber Secretary Tapiwa Murerwa over delays in repossessing the vehicle.
He further accused council management of acting in a way which sabotages elected councillors from fulfilling their mandates.
“The act shown by the suspended Town Clerk is theft. We passed a resolution to suspend him without pay as council, so why can’t modalities be put in place to recover that car since February 2023?
“To date nothing has been done and we don’t even have an RRB number from the police and Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) case number; what’s happening from management’s side?
“At this moment, let me call upon the Chamber Secretary and the Human Resource manager to go to the police and report accordingly. We want proper documentation, we want the RRB number from police and the Anti-Corruption case number to be presented before this meeting ends,” Kombayi said.
Ward 3 councillor Martin Chivhoko said probably management was afraid of confronting the suspended town clerk on the matter.
“I want to ask management, what is happening? We passed the resolution to have the car returned but up to date nothing has been done. As management you seem to be afraid to confront the suspended Town Clerk. We are eager to know what’s really happening,” Chivhoko said.
According to council minutes, Chikwekwe was supposed to have been given a brand new Toyota Fortuner SFX vehicle worth over US$ 80 000 when he was still the Chamber Secretary.
The vehicle, according to Chikwekwe, was not bought hence he was supposed to surrender the council vehicle once he received his allocated car as council was supposed to buy him a vehicle worth US$ 83 000.
“Council is yet to deliver my car which was approved by the Cabinet. Surprisingly, they want to cry over this low value car,” he highlighted.
Tracing back on most of Gweru Council officials who were dismissed, Vakayi Chikwekwe is not the first to exit council with a vehicle as three more council officials took vehicles as part of their contractual benefits.
The three officials include suspended Director of Housing Services Shepherd Tigere, former director of Engineering services Robson Manatsa and former Town Clerk Elizabeth Gwatipedza who was dismissed without her benefits for gross incompetence.

Traffic lights

Ward 15 councillor Trust Chineni who is the chairperson of Environment Committee said issues of lighting were stagnant in terms of progress.
“Yes, as council we passed the resolution to light up all our streets, but some areas still are lagging behind. Also on the issue of traffic lighting, we said we are going to install new lights and leave Zhang’s Emobuild traffic lights project like that.
“We still await to hear management’s decision as they promised to look into it as soon as possible. The biggest question is when will the project be implemented as cars continue to pose danger to pedestrians?” Chineni queried.

Woodlands dumpsite

Ward 3 councillor Doubt Ncube expressed concern over the Woodland dumpsite saying the given timeframe had lapsed while residents continued to live in danger.
“I seek to understand the issue of dumpsite. How far has management gone in addressing that issue?
“People of Woodlands are in danger. We last heard that commitment was being made over moving the dumpsite, so when is it going to be moved for the safety of the people?” said Ncube.
Mayor Kombayi however threatened that the issue of the dumpsite was part some directors’ contract performance as failure to implement will see some packing their bags.
The woodlands dumpsite was supposed to be moved by 2022 after council promised to move the site to pave way for the construction of Mkoba 21, but to date nothing much has been done as financial constraints continue to affect the project.
“Where have we gone with issue of the dumpsite, can we have answers on the matter as we have had timeframes to move the site.
“Health and housing department (point at director of Health), what have we done so far. If there is nothing done yet, just know that when we go out, we go with you (directors) who are failing to work with times frames. Remember implementation of resolutions is part of your performance based contract so be warned. We now have the power as council to dismiss over incompetence,” he said.

Residents

Ward 5 resident Tungamira Zvakarehwa Mashanda said checks and balances on both sides in councils through establishing effective accountability and transparency mechanisms was crucial.
“I can say both councilors and management never take residents seriously, which is seen in the number of projects or resolutions that go unimplemented at the expense of residents. It’s not a one sided thing, rather there is sabotaging of each other from both sides of council.
“As residents, we say now that we are caught in between the fight, we need to vote for councillors who understand how to work in harmony with others going forward.
“Management must know that assuming an office at council as a technocrat comes with a prize to deliver to the people. As residents, we can still act and remove incompetent technocrats from office,” he said.