adminNgoni Dapira Post Correspondent
THE new Minister of State for Provincial Affairs in Manicaland, Cde Mandi Chimene, has warned all Manicaland provincial heads of Government that there will be no room for dead wood during her reign.
Minister Chimene said this on Tuesday during her familiarisation meeting with provincial heads of Government.
The meeting with provincial heads of Government was on Wednesday followed by a familiarisation meeting with district administrators, chief executive officers of councils and council chairpersons.
Minister Chimene said development in the province would never come from central Government but administrators who run the show on a daily basis.
“My first expectation from you is commitment to duty and professionalism. There is a growing culture among civil servants of sitting on work always crying about poor remuneration.
“If you are not up for the job, just resign. Be warned that this era is going to be different because I will not fail. If we have been failing as a province, our current state of affairs is because of you, the Government’s service providers.
“You are all now under performance contracts and my mandate is to make people work, so please be cautious of this because when I catch you on the wrong side I will not hesitate to dismiss you or dress you down in public,” said Cde Chimene.
Cde Chimene added that all developmental issues should be apolitical.
She said she would not look at the political composition of councils around the province, which are either dominated by Zanu-PF or the Movement for Democratic Change, but would look at development and the implementation of ZimAsset.
She said President Mugabe wanted to see the economic turnaround blueprint, Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation succeed, which is why she would have zero tolerance towards corruption.
“Some people have 50 stands. I tell you, such open corruption I will not tolerate. We are all Zimbabweans and we should all benefit. This familiarisation meeting is meant to warn you and inform you that I mean business,” she said.
Cde Chimene added that there would be monthly review meetings with provincial heads of Government and district heads of Government to ensure that the ZimAsset targets are met in the province by 2018.
The provincial heads of Government applauded her enthusiasm to push development in the province.
Makoni Rural District Council chairman Mr Guy Mutasa applauded the monthly review meetings and said they would cut short the usually long extended issues that will stand to be deliberated in one meeting.
Several other district council chairpersons expressed confidence in Minister Chimene’s capability asking her to push various long-standing issues in the province.
Minister Chimene said through team work the province will turn into the bastion it was supposed to be.
Today (Friday) Minister Chimene will meet with businesspeople and next week Friday she will meet with all provincial mining companies.
Online Reporter