Kwekwe town clerk wins Outstanding Female CEO award

Michael Magoronga, [email protected]

KWEKWE town clerk, Dr Lucia Mnkandla is delighted after recently scooping the Outstanding Female CEO of the year 2023 Gold Winner during the Megafest Women’s Awards.

Earlier this year, during the Megafest National Business Awards, Dr Mnkandla was conferred with the Business Transformation Leader of the Year 2022, a feat she said was evidence of how the local authority works in unity.

Kwekwe is one unique city that has a huge female lineup in its top echelons including Dr Mnkandla herself, Finance Director Mrs Rejoice Dandira, Mayor Cllr Future Titora, and acting health services director Sister Shumba among other women.

Dr Mnkandla said the awards were not hers, but belonged to Kwekwe City as a whole.
“What makes us win is that we work as a team and Vision 2030 also makes our work easy as it guides us towards achievements that we should work towards. Besides that, we also have our own targets as a city which are meant to guide our roadmap to become one of the best-run cities in the country, the region and beyond by 2030,” she said.

Dr Mnkandla said Kwekwe City has set a five-year plan as well as performance contracts which are reviewed from time to time.

She said she was glad that women were doing well despite the challenges they face in the local governance sector.
She is one of the four women who lead local authorities across the country.

“The local governance sector is scary for women, but I am glad that as Kwekwe, as unique as we are in terms of female composition, we are doing well in this challenging sector. This is not to say men are not doing well, but we are glad that we are doing a lot in motivating a lot of women out there who are keen to enter the same fray,” said Dr Mnkandla.

Popular for a regular and constant supply of clean water and environment, Dr Mnkandla said her management will continue determined to maintain high standards.

“For starters, the environment and the ambiance of the city, not only build confidence in the local community but also attracts investors. Everyone wants to be associated with a smart city,” she said.

“We have a huge responsibility of taking care of public assets like finances, environment, public lighting and all the service delivery that we are associated with.”

Dr Mnkandla said the local authority’s relationship with the local community makes the job easier for the local authority.
“We have a seamless relationship with our local miners, the business community, vendors, and the District Development Coordinator (Mr Fortune Mpungu) who is doing a sterling job in giving us direction and coordinating the whole district as it were,” she said.

Dr Mnkandla said the fact that Kwekwe is the hometown of President Mnangagwa and Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo, also exerts extra pressure on the local authority to perform even harder.

“The fact that we are home town to the First Family sort of exerts a little bit of pressure on us to perform a little bit more and lead by example. But, we are now used to it and perhaps it makes us tick at times because over time everyone is looking at us, which gives us a little bit of pressure,” she said.

“And being a women-led council, it even becomes a bit tougher, but we are coping well.”
Rampant illegal mining activities are, however, threatening to derail achievements attained by the local authority.

“Mining is on its own a form of employment, but it has to be done sustainably in a way that benefits the miner and the environment and communities. We have joined hands with the police to try and combat the illegal operations so that the operations can be done in a more sustainable way,” said Dr Mnkandla.

She said they have also engaged Midlands State University (MSU) to engage and sensitise the miners on sustainable mining.

“Of late, we were also witnessing vandalism of council property as miners searched for water for use in mining activities. So, we are saying while mining is beneficial to the people doing it, we should do it in a way that leaves the environment and everyone happy,” said Dr Mnkandla.