By Perpetua Murungweni

As the first major rains hit Masvingo recently, Runyararo West flood victims said they are feeling short changed as they are yet to get a permanent solution to their perennial problem.
The residents said they were tired of promises and called for responsible authorities to act and proffer a lasting solution as they fear for a repeat of last year (2023) when they were temporarily sheltered somewhere where they lived in unbearable conditions.
One of the victims, Nomatter Chijaka said council keeps giving them empty promises and doing nothing tangible to help save their situation
“Last week’s heavy rains flooded my house and destroyed most of the property; we have been appealing to council for help but they are doing nothing. Council is giving us fake promises. They promised to relocate us a long time ago, and we were told that there were stands prepared for us but nothing has been implemented so far.
“We plead with council and other stakeholders to do something with our situation. It’s better for council to allocate us stands on a safer place and we will try our best to develop and build houses on our own rather than implementing provisional measures that do not work,” said Chijaka.
Another victim Chipo Chizimba, said they were getting tired of the back and forth with council yet nothing was coming out of it.
“We are tired of empty promises from council, every time rains come, council comes with papers for us to sign promising us stands. When the rain season is gone we don’t see or hear anything from them. Most of our property is being destroyed by water, because every time it rains we have to put our soaked sofas and beds outside so that they will dry, and it’s affecting our wellbeing,” said Chizimba.
Masvingo City Council Ward two Councilor Benson Hwata concurred with the residents and said the only solution to the problem was to relocate the flood victims to a safer place but said the challenge was that council had no stands at the present time.
“These victims are facing the same challenge time and again, but as council we are left with no choice but to relocate the victims. Relocation of the victims is the only permanent solution to this problem. The only thing that is slowing down the process is, we don’t have land so far. We have so far tried widening of the nearby stream and it has reduced the number of flooded houses this time around,” said Hwata.

Masvingo City Council Mayor Alec Tabe said the local authority was trying its best to address the problem and widening the nearby stream was an effort that was proving to be working since council does not have the capacity to build houses for the victims.
“As council we don’t have the capacity to build houses for these victims, but what we can do is to relocate them and give them stands with help from government. This is an intergovernmental project, and we have already engaged with government which should come on board to assist with the national development fund which is meant to assist these victims.
“Last week flash floods did not only affect Davis Mugabe residents but they affected the whole of Masvingo town; they were beyond our control and despite measures we have put in place, people were still affected. The provisional mechanism of widening of the nearby stream worked to some extent. We are thinking of putting a perimeter wall so that when the water reaches where these streams meet, it does not retreat to people’s homes but hit the wall. Another measure we are taking as council is to maintain our drainage system so that water will properly flow,” said Tabe.
However one of the Runyararo West flood victims Julia Makapinya condemned the authority for stream widening initiative saying it did more harm than good.
“The council’s solution worsened our situation, exposing us to runoff coming from both sides. Previously, water only came from the front side of our house where the road transforms into a river during heavy rains, but now it flows into our houses from the back where they widened the stream,” said Makapinya.
To date, five mayors, namely Femius Chakabuda (the late), Hubert Fidze, Collen Maboke, Shantiel Chiwara, though short-lived, and now Alec Tabe, have failed to resolve the problem and the Tabe administration is taking its first step towards addressing the challenge.
The families were allocated stands at the confluence of two small streams in the area and the situation is said to have been worsened by construction activities in Victoria Ranch.
Sources said at the time when the stands were allocated, in the mid-2000s, an engineer who was working at townhouse advised against it, which fell on deaf ears, although he had predicted the impending disaster due to the presence of streams nearby.

By Beatific Gumbwanda

CHIREDZI- Tempers recently flared during a Chiredzi Town Council (CTC) full council meeting as councillors clashed over motion to turn Khomanani Beer hall into a flea Market as an income-generating project.
Chiredzi Town Council (CTC) was leasing its two beerhalls ever since 2019, the famous Chigarapasi and Khomanani, whose leases expired in September this year and have since resolved to lease the former to the highest bidder whilst concerns remain on the latter.
Other councillors proposed creating a state of the art flea market. , just like the one in Chikanga, Mutare to increase the local authority’s revenue base but two councillors, Brighton Mahiya (Ward 7) and Costain Momber (Ward 6), opposed the motion saying the local authority should rather enhance the Beer hall into a multifaceted community centre.
Councillor Sekai Njanjure, who is the Audit committe Chairperson, insisted that they should turn Khomanani Beerhall into a better cash cow than it was.
“During the look and learn we had in Mutare, we witnessed that we can turn Khomanani Beerhall into a state-of-the-art flea market, just like what Mutare did towards Chikanga market. We need to implement such an idea in Khomanani, where we could use the main Beerhall as a storage facility for the traders operating there,” said Njanjure.
Mahiya opposed the idea, saying council should deliver better services to its residents, and not all the services should have monetary value.
“It’s not all about making money. We have a lot of sprouting flea markets, with one being less than 50 meters away from Khomanani.
“Former Chiredzi West (now Central) constituency, Darlington Chiwa constructed flea markets just across the Beerhall and were never occupied, why can’t we resuscitate those markets and work towards enhancing the Beerhall into a multifaceted community centre, where various activities take place, like Mini soccer, Beerhall, jumping castles for children, etc because it is central to several wards,” said Mahiya.
Costain Mombe, in whose ward the beerhall is located, chipped in, saying if council decided to continue leasing Chigarapasi to serve its purpose, they should do the same for Khomanani.
“If the council decided to continue leasing Chigarapasi Beerhall for it to continue serving its purpose, why not do the same for Khomanani Beerhall” queried Mombe.
CTC Chairperson, Jameson Charumbira later decided to turn the full council meeting into a committee meeting to further deliberate the issue in the absence of other stakeholders.
Chiredzi Central Constituency Member of Parliament and former councillor, Ropafadzo Makumire, whose constituency houses both Khomanani and Chigarapasi Beerhall told TellZim News in an interview that if the local authority decides not to lease Khomanani Beerhall, they should find something better to use than flea markets since the place was swampy.
“The council must not make such decisions without consulting the people. The site is not suitable for markets as it is susceptible to flooding. The proposed change must retain recreational use and stop a culture of moving vendors from one place to another; it’s a great inconvenience,” said Makumire.

By Perpetua Murungweni

Female councillors elected through women’s quota system have admitted to failing their mandate and said lack of resources was, rendering them unable to effectively represent their constituents or undertake developmental projects, thereby undermining the purpose of the quota system.
After swearing in, TellZim News interviewed all the councillors each one outlining his or her targets and areas of improvement as they took the five year journey.
However, it is almost a year now since councillors were sworn in and residents especially women felt let down already as there is no feedback mainly from the female councillors.
The four councillors including Sabina Chikwangwani who was representing the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) in ward one and sole ballot elected female councillor.
The other three are Alaica Time and Esther Zishiri both representing CCC then Sheron Marombedze of Zanu PF.
In taking stock on the promises that were recorded by TellZim News, the councilors confirmed that they had not fulfilled any.
Chikwangwani promised residents improved service delivery, address accommodation challenges for people living in hostels and for families sharing one house. She promised to lobby for women’s developmental programmes, affordable service charges saying council rates were too high.
She also said she was going to lobby for the resuscitation of Mucheke bus terminus so that people in the neighborhood could make a living from the hype of activities but all the challenges still persist.
“The main problem that restrict us from fulfilling what we promised to residents is lack of funds, so far council does not have money, you cannot do anything without money,” said Chikwangwani.
Zishiri promised to firmly represent women through empowerment, opening of more market places for women and promised to facilitate establishment of a sewing factory. She also promised to lobby for the reduction of service charges but nothing has materialized.
“So far I haven’t done anything for the residents because of financial challenges, when the 2024 council budget was proposed last year, women’s quota councilors were not allocated any money so it becomes difficult for me to implement what I promised without money. All of the things that I promised residents require funding,” said Zishiri.
“I failed to have meetings with residents because of financial challenges, it’s useless to have a meeting with residents and they tell you what they want but you can’t do it because you don’t have money,” said Zishiri.
Time promised to advocate for improved service delivery especially for women, facilitate programmes to fight against gender based violence, create safe markets and work closely with women.
“I’m still holding on to my promises, the whole of 2024 I had no money to implement any of the projects that I promised women, I think it is fair for residents to hold me accountable next year as I’m looking forward to be allocated some funds from the 2025 budget.
Marombedze just like others promised to advocate for women emancipation, women empowerment, and to advocate for women’s interests and improved service delivery. However, like the rest residents complain that they have never seen her since she got in council
Contacted for comment on whether she had fulfilled any of her promises Marombedze said she could not comment at the moment as she was not in good shape.
“I don’t know what you want me say I don’t think I’m in a good shape to comment on that,” Said Marombedze.
Residents called upon the female councilors to convene meetings with women and get their concerns and take them up to council.
“Feedback meetings are important, it is where we are able to share our concerns as residents. They are also platforms for councilor to give us feedback on what they have worked on, what they failed and why they are failing.
I don’t know what they will be discussing in council when they do not know what we want. They should come to us so that we tell them what is affecting us,” said one resident Sungano Zvarebwanashe.