WCoZ members during clean-up campaign

Agnes Madechihwe

Gweru–
The Women Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) Gweru Chapter last week embarked on a
donate a pad campaign aimed at mobilising sanitary wear for girls whom they say
are struggling to access the basic commodity in the face of a biting economy.

WCoZ
and their Young Women Forum (YWF) cluster embarked on a clean-up campaign in
the Gweru Central Business District (CBD) raising awareness on the importance
of helping and empowering the girl child in the communities.

Young
Women Forum (YWF) chairperson, Grace Mazambani said WCoZ was advocating   for free sanitary wear for all women paying
special attention to rural girl child.

“We
are grateful as a movement to be hosting such an initiative as we hope to
maintain a clean and safer environment.

“We
are pleased to inform you that we have collected a lot pads since the beginning
of the campaign and we hope to distribute them to vulnerable girls around Midlands
province.

“Right
now if you check in shops sanitary wear is very expensive  as it is going for US$1 a pack and for  most rural girls it’s hard because  they can’t afford to get money to buy. In
other words we want sanitary wear to be subsidized by government so that women
get it for free,” said Mazambani.

She
encouraged men to join the initiative as most donations had been contributed by
men.

“We
also want the drive to influence policymakers to swiftly act on this issue
because it’s a matter of urgency. We want policies which protect the welfare of
the girl child; we want policies which ensure that the sanity of young girls
and women is considered just like that of the boy child.

“We
are also encouraging men to donate towards the initiative because they are also
part of this programme. We have received 288 packs from Gweru Urban Member of
Parliament Brian Dube and we are very grateful,” said Mazambani.

Councilor Mukodza holding the award and Mutare Town Clerk Joshua Maligwa in Harare recently during the CCAZ awards

Felix
Matasva

MUTARE– While
most cities in the country are groaning under the yoke of hyperinflation with
service delivery suffering a huge blow, the City of Mutare has been recognized as
one of the best local authorities faring well under the struggling economy by
winning the Service Delivery Excellence Award at the 9^th Edition of
the Contact Centre Association of Zimbabwe (CCAZ) awards ceremony held in Harare
last week.

Barely two weeks after the local authority
scooped the national Gender Champion Award, the City of Mutare’s star continued
to shine even brighter with the Service Delivery Excellence Award added to
their name.

The City of Gweru and Victoria falls were the first and
second runners up in the same category.

City of Mutare spokesperson Spren
Mutiwi said that the recognition goes to show that the local authority was
trying, despite the harsh economy, to deliver to its mandate.

“Remarkable improvements in service delivery and good
customer care services made possible through proper stakeholder engagement by City
of Mutare have been recognised.

“The awards stand as recognition of sterling service delivery
improvements, new work ethics and culture at the civic centre. We are on a
massive rebranding drive so that we make Mutare great again by retaining its lost
glory.

“We are transforming all our services and
infrastructure provisions hence the recognition from even beyond our borders,”
said Mutiwi.

He said the city is trying to provide services despite the
harsh economic conditions largely caused by the Covid-19 induced national
lockdown.

“The City of Mutare has done its best in provision of
basic services notwithstanding difficult economic environment we are operating
in. Regardless of debilitating effects on our operations induced by macro-economic
conditions coupled with Covid-19 pandemic, the local authority managed to
provide portable clean water.

“At the moment we are ensuring that Dangamvura pipeline
is resolved and works are currently in progress. The project will absolutely change
lives of Dangamvura residents.

“Women and children will no longer spend so much time
in water queues as it affects other schedules they may have,” said Mutiwi.

First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa

Beatific
Gumbwanda

CHIREDZI–
First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, who doubles as the ambassador of Health and
Child Care, together with the ministry of Social Welfare are working towards the
revamping of Chambuta Children’s Home into a rehabilitation centre for children
who live in the streets.

The
First Lady, through her Angel of Hope Foundation, is working with various
municipalities and town councils towards improving Chambuta Children’s Home
into a state of art rehabilitation centre aimed at improving livelihoods for
children living in the streets.

Chambuta
Children’s home is currently housing 56 children, most of them from Harare.

During
her three days visit to Chambuta Children’s Home recently, the First Lady said she was
working towards rehabilitating the children’s home into a Vocational Training
Centre, where talent will be identified before transferring kids to their
responsible areas.

“My
greater wish is to transform Chambuta Children’s Home into a rehabilitation
centre for children living in the street across the country’s provinces in
order for them to realise their future dreams.

“We
came here to see the welfare of our children whom we brought here from
different towns across the country where they were living in the streets. This
is a government institution which does not select types of people to be
accommodated here.

“Children
living in the streets encounter different forms of abuses because they have no
one to look after their welfare. These children no longer have their future
expectations and they are entitled to free health services, food, clothes and
education which they are going to be given here,” said the First Lady.

Various
city councils and municipalities were given mandates to refurbish and decorate
each house, which is going to be named after their city.

TellZim
Reporter

Some six trailblazing
digital platforms have come together to form the Content Creators Network ZW which
will be launched virtually today, November 05.

The platform seeks to
defend content creators, promote free expression and grow the digital media
industry by strengthening the industry.

The network brings together Magamba
Network, Bustop TV, Centre for Innovation & Technology (CITE), Kubatana,
ZimFact, TellZim and News Hawks to share content that promotes independent
media, social justice and free expression.

Content Creators Network ZW convener
Samm Farai Monro, who is popularly known as Comrade Fatso, said the time had
come for digital content creators to come together and support each other in
defence of civil liberties and democracy.

“We live
in a time when the government is going after journalists and satirists who
speak truth to power online. Now more than ever we need our content creators,
community media groups and alternative media outlets to be united, to support
each other and defend free expression.

“Our network is diverse and
includes investigative journalists, political satirists, community media
voices, fact checkers and digital media organisations. Our diversity is our
strength,” said Monro.

The Content Creators Network ZW
will work as a loose network of media organisations that use media for positive
social change.

It includes affiliated content
creators, alternative media organizations and grassroots community media
initiatives.

CITES founder and
prominent social justice activist Zenzele Ndebele is the network’s inaugural spokesperson.

Kimberly Sithole

Felix
Matasva

MUTARE-  The City of Mutare has been selected to
participate in the initial edition of the Multi-City Challenge Africa competition
which seeks to unveil solutions for urban life problems affecting local
authorities dotted around the African continent.

City of Mutare is the first local authority from Zimbabwe
and Southern Africa to take part in the challenge and will compete for honors
against Kano from Nigeria, Kampala from Uganda, Accra from Ghana and Bahir Dar from
Ethiopia.

The City of Mutare’s Multi-City Challenge coordinating committee
chairperson Kimberley Sithole told TellZim News that the competition was very
significant in showcasing the Zimbabwean brand at an international stage.

“We highly treasure recognition of the local authority
beyond our borders. It has been very hard to sell the brand Zimbabwe on the
international arena and this stand as a chance to reshape people’s perceptions
towards our country.

“We are raising the Zimbabwean flag high since we were
selected among other cities like Johannesburg, Lusaka, Maputo and others,”
said Sithole.

She said the challenge offers a platform for Zimbabwean
residents and citizens to exercise their right to expression by revealing ideas
which will be assessed at an international level.

“We are embarking on an open challenge starting on
November 4 and ending on December 4. It’s a crucial stage in the entire
multi-city challenge whereby residents, stakeholders, academia, researchers,
experts, people in the media and corporate sector to uncover solutions to
problems identified in the initial stage.

“It is an opportunity for young think-tanks to showcase
their brilliant ideas by just a click on the website. We urge all Zimbabweans
and diasporas to validate our country’s intellect,” said Sithole.

 The Multi-City Challenge Africa, which is a build up to the fruitful
implementation of the Multi-City Challenge model in Latin America, the US and
Europe, provides an opportunity for African city leaders to work with others by
sharing experiences from communities 
through robust public engagement efforts across cities.

The prestigious International Cities Challenge was modeled
by a Singapore-based Governance Lab in 2016 and after being pioneered in South
America it was then transformed into a Multi-city Challenge.

The African version provides a platform for public servants
to establish workable solutions needed to resolve challenges of urban life
through extensive citizen engagement.

City of Mutare spokesperson Spren Mutiwi said the
competition is no longer for Mutare alone as they are carrying the national
flag.

“We are focusing on urban resilience and we urge all
stakeholders including citizens to participate in the open challenge under the
City of Mutare banner. We need to raise the flag of Zimbabwe hence this is no
longer a Mutare issue,” said Mutiwi.

The Multi-City Africa Challenge is being organized by United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Global Centre for Technology, Innovation
and Sustainable Development and the Governance Lab (GovLab) at New York
University Tandon School of Engineering.

City of Masvingo Acting Town Clerk Edward Mukaratirwa

Mark
Chavunduka

MASVINGO—
The City of Masvingo has called on residents
with outstanding bills to approach the local authority and make payment plans
to avoid being disconnected.

There was groundswell of anger and discontent when
the city council announced that it was going to disconnect residents with
outstanding bills despite the local authority’s failure to provide adequate
water supply to residents.

Acting Town Clerk Edward Mukaratirwa said residents
should not let their bills balloon but should approach the council and commit
to payment plans so that service delivery can run smoothly.

Mukaratirwa said the residents have responded
positively to the call for payment plans saying that water will not be
disconnected once a payment plan has been agreed on. 

“When
we said we were going to disconnect residents with arrears there were a lot of
cries but we are an open council and open for negotiations.

“Residents
should come and make their payment plans. We know some bills have been nursed
for far too long and can be difficult to settle at once hence the need for
payment plans. The council needs money to operate and that can only be possible
if residents play their part.

“I
can say that people are responding well to the payment plans and more should
come. During the first 6 months, council was in a deficit of $131, 2 million
rising from an opening balance of $50, 4 million but after the introduction of
the payment plans the revenue collection has increased to more than $6 million
from collections dated October 26,” said Mukaratirwa.

The
council was under attack from the Masvingo United Residents and Ratepayers
Alliance (Murra) who questioned why the local authority was disconnecting water
from residents without the provision payment plans.

Murra
director Anoziva Muguti said he was grateful towards the payment plan and have encouraged
residents to live up to their commitments.

“We
are happy the council has responded positively to our calls and now it is up to
the residents to approach the council and commit to payment plans.

“Residents
should make sure that they honor the agreement. We know residents are facing
difficult times in the face of Covid-19 lockdown but they have to commit the
little they have towards payment of their bills for services to continue,” said
Muguti.

The
payment plans stretch to a period of six months.

Government
departments are the heaviest debtors with the police, army and prisons owing
the council in excess of $30 million.