By Tinaani Nyabereka
Gweru-Residents and Ratepayers Association (GRRA) last week engaged female councilors and women in Gweru over deteriorating service delivery as part of the organization’s efforts to identify solutions to the persisting challenges in the city.
Some of the challenges affecting the Gweru community include water woes, poor road network and deteriorating medicinal supplies at council clinics.
Speaking at the meeting, GRRA Programs Officer, Fadzai Kanyai said it was important for the community to take a look and account for development in their respective communities for progress.
She added that with female councilors on board, it was key to give them time and support to advocate for issues that affect women in the community.
“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 bursts, and poor road networks which have persisted for long.
“We want to check if there are any changes in terms of service provision because as women we are struggling, we have issues that affect women directly. We realized the need to dialogue with women to iron out such issues
“As GRRA we are doing a project called enhancing citizen participation as we are driving towards the empowerment of women in governance issues. “As we have women in council chambers it is good to rally behind them so that we put our issues in the spotlight,” she said.
Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD)’s Gracia Mashingaidze said the issue of healthcare facilities is a thorn in the flesh as the city is lagging in terms of healthcare.
“We have a clinic in Mkoba 1 which does not have a maternity ward. Sometimes people are required to bring their own water and blankets, sometimes they sleep on the floor because there are few beds. We always air out these issues because we are the ones affected by this development.
“We are not afraid to bring out our issues but the challenge we have is we are always singing the same thing to the councilors who act as if they are deaf. We do not have leaders who understand us” said Mashingaidze.
Ward 6 resident Siphiwe Moyo said the situation at Mtapa Cemetery was pathetic as vendors had lost respect for the dead.
“Our cemetery is in bad shape, it is being used as a very bad toilet. They are now a substitute for the toilets. Why is council not concerned about open defecation at Mtapa which is likely to lead to the spread of diseases? We once had a cholera outbreak and we cannot go back there again,” she said.
Gweru Ward 2 councilor Rutendo Chuma said all the concerns that were raised by women were going to be looked into by the council.
“We have women’s issues, we must be united to make sure that these issues are addressed, we are the ones who bear the burden of carrying the family on our shoulders. When we go to council with your concerns remind us to come with feedback because we are here to serve you.
“We have water challenges and we are trying our best to solve that. The challenge is that most times our electricity line is switched off due to load shedding and the only solution we have is to engage ZESA because the power crisis is a nationwide problem even affecting other local authorities.
“We are trying to push for the establishment of a solar powered plant to generate energy, this is a long term plan but we pray that with plans being budgeted for this and plans being mapped it will be a big intervention for the City,” Chuma said.
