Ivan Zhakata
Herald Correspondent
KARIBA Municipality is targeting inclusive economic growth, improved social services and enhanced public safety under its 2026-2030 strategic plan with a focus on ensuring local communities benefit from increased tourism investment.
The plan also seeks to address water infrastructure needs, human-wildlife conflict, security challenges and the development of the Kasese housing scheme as the resort town prepares to host the Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo next year.
Speaking during the municipality’s strategic plan review workshop on Tuesday, Mayor Ralph Maoneyi said the new five-year plan will build on achievements recorded under the 2020-2025 strategy while addressing the economic disparities between investors and residents.
“Yesterday was basically about us reviewing the journey that we walked from 2020 to 2025. Those of us who were there and involved in the planning for the 2020 to 2025 period met five years ago in Chinhoyi to do what we are doing today, and we have seen the fruits and results of planning,” he said.
Mayor Maoneyi said the previous plan had sought to revive tourism, culminating in the municipality’s vision of becoming “the ultimate tourism destination embedded in a thriving local community by 2030”.
He said the next phase will focus on ensuring tourism investment translates into tangible benefits for ordinary residents.
“One of the greatest issues that we are trying to deal with in this conversation for the coming five years is closing the gap, and that is the economic gap between the investment that is happening, particularly land investment, and the empowerment of our locals,” he said.
With Kariba scheduled to host the Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo next year, Mayor Mawoneyi said the municipality wanted to ensure increased investment and tourism revenues circulated within the local economy to improve residents’ livelihoods.
He said the municipality also needed to strengthen social services, particularly water infrastructure, to accommodate anticipated population growth and new developments.
“We want to deal with the issue of a new water network. We do not really have major water problems, but if we now have Kasese on board and a growing population, we are going to have a problem,” he said.
Mayor Mawoneyi said the municipality needed a financing strategy to implement its long-standing water augmentation plan, which has been in place for more than a decade.
He also identified public safety and security as key priorities and said Kariba continued to experience human-wildlife conflict, with annual fatalities exceeding 10 and reaching nearly 30 in some years in the Kariba-Ebene area.
The municipality intends to collaborate with the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and other stakeholders to explore smart lighting, surveillance cameras and live tracking systems that could alert residents to wildlife movements and help them avoid dangerous areas.
He said the council also needed to address theft at municipal facilities, including workshops and the fuel station, while continuing efforts to complete the sewer network at Kasese and advance the proposed central business district.
Meanwhile, people with disabilities called on the municipality to prioritise their needs in the 2027 budget.
National member for people living with disabilities Ms Yeukai Chikwekwete said some people with disabilities lacked accommodation and income-generating opportunities, while children with disabilities needed educational and employment support.
“Our plea as people with disabilities is to be included in the 2027 budget. Some of us have no places to stay,” she said.
“We also want to do income-generating projects, and we have children with disabilities who wrote O-Level and need to be employed.”
She urged council to provide affordable housing and market facilities for people with disabilities and support children who were unable to attend school.
Kariba commercial property owners’ representative Mr Noman Masawu Kashongambabvu said the municipality and business community needed to plan adequately for accommodation ahead of next year’s tourism expo.
“Our focus is on next year when Kariba is hosting the Sanganai Expo. We want the council, together with the business community, to try by all means to provide enough accommodation for people who will come next year,” he said.
He said preparations for the international tourism event could also help shape the town’s development priorities in the years ahead.
