GWERU — Residents in the Midlands capital say they expect tangible results from incoming councillors, following questionable performance from outgoing city fathers, most of whom were expelled by the MDC-T party on corruption charges.
Stephen Chadenga
Early this year, the MDC-T expelled former mayor Tedious Chimombe and six other councillors, accusing them of abusing council office and enriching themselves.
In separate interviews, residents who spoke to the Southern Eye said incoming councillors should prioritise service delivery and restore the glamour once associated with the “City of Progress”.
“The City of Progress has over the years been known for its clean surroundings, clean water, but this has changed, with the outgoing city fathers concentrating more on fattening their pockets than service delivery,” Peter Rodgers, a senior citizen from Mkoba 7 said.
“We say a big ‘NO’, to such retrogressive behaviour from incoming councillors.” Jackie Chindozi of Mkoba 4 said she expected “more seriousness” from incoming councillors, saying the ones who were there before acted as if they did not know what being a councillor entailled.
She said residents expected the prioritisation of garbage collection both in the suburbs and the central business district.
“The rainy season is beckoning and we expect improvement in the manner bins are collected to prevent disease outbreaks such as cholera,” she said.
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Another resident from Ivene suburb, Rosemary Moyo said councillors should be accountable to ratepayers in all their activities.
“We don’t want councillors who play nocturnal games, waking up the following morning with seven residential and unknown number of commercial stands,” she said. Gweru Residents and Ratepayers’ Association chairperson Cornelius Selipiwe said he expected an end to clashes between the association and council over poor service delivery and corrupt activities.
“We are tired of these fights, where we have been labelled warmongers because we want quality service delivery, both to ratepayers and in the administration of council business,” he said.
“We are saying to incoming councillors — know your mandate, deliver the results and we will leave you alone,” he added.
