Makombe elected Gweru mayor

Patrick Chitumba Midlands Bureau Chief
Councillor Josiah Makombe is the new mayor for the City of Gweru after being elected unopposed, while Clr Cleopas Shiri, who was also unopposed, will deputise him.

Gweru councillors were on Tuesday sworn into office, officially marking the beginning of their five-year term and the end of the Mr Enos Size-led commission which had been running the local authority.

Clrs Makombe (Riverside and Harben Park) and Clr Shiri (Senga) were MDC-Alliance party choices as it was announced earlier that they had been chosen by the party after interviews which were conducted in Harare last month.

Clr Makombe was selected ahead of four other candidates who included former mayors Hamutendi Kombayi (Nashville, Ridgemont and Northlea) and Charles Chikozho (Villages 9, 10 and 11), businessman Clr Albert Chirau (Villages 4 and 5) and Cll Shiri, who eventually settled for deputy mayor.

In his acceptance speech, Clr Makombe said he had a mammoth task of rescuing the city from poor service delivery and engaging stakeholders to assist in council affairs. He said his council will be transparent, responsive and will act in good faith for the benefit of residents.

“We will work hard to improve service delivery. We will continue to provide residential and commercial stands as we work on inviting more investments into the city. In that vein, we will avail more vending bays and also work on improving council workers conditions of service,” he said.

“We need to have street lights in the city and in the residential areas and that’s our vision. We want to bring about a smart city to ensure that the citizens of Gweru enjoy and be proud to be from Gweru.”

Clr Makombe sympathised with residents who lost their relatives to the typhoid pandemic, adding that more needed to be done in improving the quality of water. “All the problems that we have in this city should be addressed as quickly as possible,” he said.

“As you know, we have problems of roads, problems of water and a typhoid outbreak. My condolences to families that lost their loved ones we have to make sure we address that, and we also have a problem with refuse collection.”

Councillors who took oath of office administered by town clerk Ms Elizabeth Gwatipedza include Doubt Ncube (Delsford, Kopje, Gweru East), Martin Chivhoko (Lundi Park, Southview and Southdowns, Ivine), Godfrey Giwa (Mtapa), Gideon Mugariri (Mambo), Notal Dzika (Ascot and Montrose), Edson Kurebwaseka (Villages 1, 2 and 3), Japhter Zvidzai (Villages 6 and 7), Catherine Mhondiwa (Village 13), Dan Ndaba (Village 14), Trust Chineni (Villages 12, 16 and 17), Tawanda Magidi (Villages 18 and 20), Farai Muza (Villages 15 and 19), John Manyundwa (CBD).