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Conrad Mupesa
Mashonaland West Bureau
FOR 40 years, Alderman Lovemore Katena of Ward 15 under Hurungwe Rural District Council has remained the people’s favourite and choice.
He is even confident of trouncing his opponents come 2028.
Ald Katena was first voted into Hurungwe Rural District Council in 1984.
He missed out on the 1980 elections because he was based in Shabani where he was working and he reckons if he had contested Zimbabwe’s first democratic elections at independence he would have won.
Ald Katena worked as a sampler at Shabani Mine until 1983, a profession he says played a role in winning him elections for 40 years.
His stay at the helm, on a Zanu PF ticket, has seen him serve for 10 terms as councillor in Zimbabwe’s second biggest district after Makoni.
His legion of supporters in his home ward have backed his continued stay. They say his transparency, hard work and fairness are all what is needed in a leader.
His adversaries and their supporters believe the 67-year-old uses juju to hold on to power, but that is all bar talk, he says.
Occasionally, during the Zanu PF primary elections, Hurungwe’s longest-serving councillor extends a helping hand not only to the voters but also to his challengers. He gives them money to fuel their motorbikes as they de-campaign him.
“I help them with fuel which they need to campaign, and I know they will also de-campaign me in the process but I will still win. I don’t usually campaign during primary and general elections. While they will be doing all the running around and campaigning, I will be having time with my friends at a beer hall. The art of remaining in power is in the way you serve your people. I am transparent and honest. This has made me,” Ald Katena said.
He brushed off the juju claims saying if black magic existed in politics, his adversaries would have used it against him.
“I don’t use juju. All one needs in politics is to be a listening leader and make sure that what must be given to the people is delivered. Why should you steal from the people you are representing? Those that claim I use juju can try to use it to unseat me.”
The Hurungwe born-and-bred politician also claimed that there was a moment when he thought of retiring but the community begged him to run again for office.
“I have never received more resources as a ward councillor. As you know our council is struggling.
“Sometimes there is no need to pester it for funding towards development. As a councillor, I made it a point to engage the community in development.
“We have had our communities join hands with schools for the construction of classroom blocks and repair roads. Teamwork has seen my area develop,” he said.
Ald Katena boasts of mooting and establishing the Rengwe Conservancy in the early 1990s.
“During my first term as a councillor, I mooted the setting up of a conservancy and I engaged the community for the construction of chalets and other facilities.”
His efforts reduced the poaching of wildlife among them, the big five.
However, the conservancy collapsed in early 2000 as Zimbabwe battled illegally imposed sanctions that saw a fall in the number of tourists that visited the nation.
This witnessed outrageous poaching that threatened to decimate elephants, lions, rhinos and buffalos among other species.
The conservancy has since been revived and is being run on lease, by a local farmer and businessman from the council.
Alderman Katena was born on March 3, 1957, in Hurungwe and attended Mashoko Secondary School in Bikita for his secondary education.He enjoys playing soccer and hanging out with his friends.
Online Reporter