Tinaani Nyabereka
Gweru – Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development, (ZIMCODD) last week established its Central Region Committee which will drive the organization’s operations in the Midlands.
The establishment of the regional committee saw Gweru Residents and Ratepayers Association director, Conilia Selipiwe being elected Chairperson, while Patronella Ngozo of Community Voices Zimbabwe was elected Vice Chairperson with Ephraim Mthombeni being elected Treasurer uncontested.
Youth Essence will lead the cluster on youths and students while the Health Cluster will be led by Women In Communities (WiCO).
Other cluster leads are ZimRights which leads the Human Rights and Legal Affairs, while Gender and Women will be led by Ebenezer Trust. The Debt, Trade, and Economic cluster went to MACRAD while the Residents Association leads went to Masvingo Residents Forum.
ZIMCODD National Chairperson, Rosewitta Katsande said as Zimcodd they were confident in the leadership of the Central Region in pushing socio-economic justice issues.
“As Zimcodd we are very excited and appreciate the formation of the Central Region Commitee. We have been reflecting on how best we can broaden our membership.
“So ushering the central region will help grow men, women, and youths to champion Social Economic Justice.
“So we expect the new committee to interface with citizens and different clusters, sharing experiences and ideas among other things,” he added.
The Central Region’s new chairperson, Selipiwe said, as a newly established committee there was a need to tackle social economic justice issues without fear or favor.
“Besides being a committee, first and foremost we are- socio-economic justice ambassadors, we are always aware of the issues we stand for.
“We need to take our leaders into account, on socio-economic issues. One thing is for sure, no one can assume chairmanship of a region if he or she doesn’t know what needs to be addressed or how to grow membership.
“We are now saying going forward as a committee, we need to create a convergent zone for networking and sharing ideas with the community. We are there to hear from the people and implement what they say,” said Selipiwe.
In a solidarity message, ZIMCODD Programmes Manager, John Maketo, urged the newly established committee to unite to grow the region.
