Mutare City Council’s recapitalization plan is bearing fruits in spite of toxic politics and municipal management challenges at Civic Centre, a top council official has said.
Speaking at Mutare Press Club organised by TellZim and ZIMCODD last week, Mayor Councilor Blessing Tandi said they are pushing service delivery objectives despite a myriad of challenges including a ballooning debt over ZWL 900 million.
Mayor Tandi said capacity utilization challenges across departments are being addressed by an aggressive machinery capitalization program to improve efficiency to minimal thresholds.
“Budget approval is subject to the 30 seventy threshold at crafting levels, while it may differ at implementation on the ground. Our service delivery is the best in Zimbabwe refuse collection at seventy percent,” said Tandi.
City officials are jostling to ensure favourable landing in the incoming management, at the expense of service delivery as council will appoint a new Town Clerk to replace the late Joshua Maligwa.
As a result, service delivery challenges like loss of revenue from unmetered water, procurement due diligence challenges, because government bottlenecks as well as legacy of management, have persisted at Civic Centre.
TellZim Director, Golden Maunganidze, said localising the #Howfar campaign allows citizens to participate and allow up on the implementation matrix of local authority projects, plans and electoral promises.
“We are planning to roll out further engagements in rural constituents as well as the urban areas so that residents, citizens of Zimbabweans are always informed of key developments taking place,” he said.
Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) recently launched the #Howfar Campaign calling to participate and raise awareness on the lack of transparency and accountability by the Zimbabwean government on matters of public finance management.
Janet Zhou, ZIMCODD Director, at the launch of the campaign early this month said the government has a responsibility of ensuring transparent and accountable public financial management.
“We have been calling for transparency and accountability for long and without it our country continues to bleed out crucial financial resources that could be used to meet our social services, spur development, and guarantee a better future for our children,” said Zhou.
