…as councillor Muchokwa pleads for more allowances
By Beverly Bizeki
MASVINGO – In an act that probably exposed how self-centered and self-serving some councilors are, Masvingo City Ward 9 councilor Benard Muchokwa begged the Minister of Local Government and Public Works Winston Chitando to increase their allowances as well as to spare Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) councilors, by taking no action, if their party’s self-imposed secretary general Sengezo Tshabango decides to recall them in future.
Speaking during an interaction meeting with Minister Chitando at Masvingo City Hall recently, Muchokwa – who is popularly known as Bennic, pleaded with Minister Chitando to take heed of his two self-serving interests ahead of provision of quality service delivery; that is, for the minister to ignore recall letters from Tshabangu as well as reviewing upwards the councillors’ allowances.
“I am pleading with the minister to consider the welfare of councilors. There is a lot of corruption and the major reason is that councilors do not have a salary, therefore, I plead with you to consider the welfare of councilors and that will go a long way in solving the issue of corruption,” said Muchokwa.
“I am also pleading with you to ignore recall letters. Please do not read or effect the recalls,” he added.
However, in an interview with TellZim News, Masvingo City Mayor Alex Tabe and other opposition councilors distanced themselves from the submissions by Muchokwa saying that was his personal opinion and did not reflect the position of councilors.
“It’s not correct to say councilors are corrupt because of poor allowances because we are not elected to get allowances but to serve the interests of residents, and ensure provision of quality service delivery. I think it was a wrong platform for one to talk about the welfare of councilors,” said Tabe.
“When it comes to recalls, we are not afraid of Tshabangu because we are solidly behind the leadership of Advocate Nelson Chamisa and we are not apologetic about that. We all know that Tshabangu is an imposter so we are not bothered by the decisions he makes,” he added.
Residents however, castigated councilors for being self-centered and said provision of quality service delivery should be their top priority.
Masvingo United Residents and Ratepayers Association (MURRA) spokesperson Godfrey Mutimba said councilors must consider the interests of residents first before anything else.
“We wish to reiterate that councilors should prioritise service delivery first ahead of self-serving interests, residents are receiving clumsy service delivery and we do not expect leaders to use their stomachs to think. They should plead with the minister to fund water reticulation project to end the water crisis in the city, so we urge elected leaders not to be self-centered,” said Mutimba.
Residents often accuse councilors and legislators for ignoring their issues and pushing their self-serving interests when they get to council and Parliament respectively.
Recently, legislators demanded hefty allowances and other benefits which the Finance Minister Prof Mthuli Ncube has since approved.
