Beverly Bizeki
MASVINGO – ZANU PF Masvingo urban ward 3 aspiring candidate Taurai Mudzwiti popularly known as Bucho says he is the best shot he said he aims at resuscitating service delivery in his ward when he gets into office.
Speaking to TellZim News, Mudzwiti said he intends to improve a number of issues concerning service delivery for residents especially repairing water meters.
“A number of houses Masvingo have old water meters and some are no longer functional so council is estimating water bills and this is not fair to both council and residents,”
“When I get into office I intend to lobby for council to make arrangements whereby they fix meters for residents and they can pay later to make sure that council record actual water meter readings,” said Mudzwiti.
Mudzwiti also touched on the issue of refuse collection saying the timetable for refuse collection should be flexible so that residents are be able to take out their bins out for collection to minimize illegal dumping.
“Refuse trucks should change their timetable as they come too early whilst people are still sleeping. A number of people do not put out their bins for collection overnight because they may be stolen,” said Mudzwiti.
Mudzwiti said he will advocate for upgrading and creation of recreational facilities in Mamutse Stadium for youths, resuscitation of Mucheke Hall swimming pool.
He said council was not realizing much from renting out beerhalls and said if they were turned into markets the local authority would realize more money than they are currently getting from the same premises.
“Council is getting less money from leasing its beerhalls. If you look at them you will see that they are big but the area being used is very small. If I get into council I want to propose that they be turned into markets where residents rent market stalls. That way council gets more money and maximize its revenue flow which means it won’t burden residents on rates since they would have found more revenue avenues.
He also talked about poor drainage system in town and locations which he said needed improvement.
“When I moved around doing door to door campaigns, I observed that there are poor drainage systems in our communities which is problematic to residents in the rain season as water gets into people’s homes.
“Some of the areas near Chikato police station and here around sisk have poor drainage systems so we want council to have a tour before we get into office in order to get an appreciation of the problems people face in communities and we will address that,” said Mudzwiti
He said there was need for policy change on land sell saying the stands council was selling was rectangular forcing people to build block houses.
“It’s difficult to construct a house in any shape you want because of the shape of the stands. Council should allow a person to buy any shape of stand as long as one has the money. Why should every stand be rectangular,” said Mudzwiti.
Mudzwiti said there was supposed to be a provision to discount water bills for the elderly members of the community who are in town since most of them have lean sources of income.
“When I get into council I want to push for council to discount bills on our elderly members of the community especially those in Mucheke. They don’t work and have no sources of income but council bill them the same way with other people who are working. There is also need for people in old railway to get full ownership of the houses,” he said.
He said there was need to reintroduce the bus service to help during funerals as well as making sure street lights are functional.
As a businessman, he said he will make sure that council respects local businesses by giving them tenders unlike what happens in most cases where tenders are given to companies from Harare.
“When I get in office I need to make sure that council respect local companies and prioritise them on contracts so that money circulates locally.
“Local companies should be prioritized on tenders not what is currently happening. Most tenders are given to companies in Harare while local companies are there, that should be changed and if elected I will push for that change,” said Mudzwiti
He went on to say the city should not just sell land for the sake of it but should make sure that they model new developments in tandem with current trends.
“Council should find developers who develop in a modern way. We cannot allow people to build old building like the ones we have. If council want to extend the city, they shouldn’t develop a replica of what we have. The new town across Mucheke River should be a modern city not just an extension,” said Mudzwiti
He said it was time for the city to have shopping malls where residents get all goods and services under one roof and said it is one of the major priorities that he will push for once elected in council.
Mudzwiti, will lock horns in the 2023 election with Citizens coalition for Change (CCC) candidate Maxwell Madhuna, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC T) candidate Vhikai Emily and Zvirevo Pedzisai from ZZPP.
