Midlands local authorities’ service delivery improves

LOCAL authorities in the Midlands province have embraced President Mnangagwa’s “A call to Action” service delivery blueprint, which has resulted in improved responses to challenges and project implementation in line with the Government’s vision of meeting the needs of the citizenry towards the attainment of Vision 2030.

Named “A call to action: No compromise to service delivery: first stage of interventions to modernise the operations of local authorities towards a 2030 vision”, the blueprint was launched by President Mnangagwa late last year during the local authorities’ interaction was hosted by the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works.

At the event, President Mnangagwa stressed that an upper middle-income economy must not be defined by the income per capita alone, but also by the quality-of-service provision by local authorities.

The blueprint also seeks to modernise and renew local authorities through improved corporate governance, organisational capacity and systems to lay a base for a modernisation and renewal programme.

It also looks at design and implementation of a plan for each local authority to achieve renewal and modernisation to a level consistent with a 2030 upper middle income economy.

In response to these guidelines, local authorities in the Midlands province have started pulling up their sleeves in service delivery. For years, opposition-led local authorities have come under the spotlight due to poor service deliver and this has prompted central Government to intervene and set benchmarks.

Some of the major roads in Gweru and Kwekwe Central Business Districts are now receiving attention while in Mvuma and Gokwe, the local authorities have also upped their game in terms of garbage collection and other services.

In Gweru, the roads in the city centre are being rehabilitated and the city now has four functional traffic lights after going for years without such services.

Gweru mayor, Councillor Martin Chivhoko, attributed the improvement to collaborative efforts between the local authority and Central Government.

“One thing people need to understand is that we are part of the Government. If we go it alone, we are bound to fail,” he said.

Cllr Chivhoko said since the local authority started working on the programme to improve service delivery, it has achieved a lot.

“We are getting help from Government departments and we are implementing this programme in phases,” he said.

Kwekwe Town Clerk, Dr Lucia Mnkandla, said they have embraced the local authorities’ blueprint, which she said presents opportunity to address various areas of concern.

She said the blueprint covers issues such as revenue collection and distribution, compliance with laws, leasing and selling of land by local authorities and valuation of properties for rating purpose.

“As Kwekwe, we have embraced the blueprint as we contribute to the realisation of Vision 2030. We are rehabilitating roads in the CBD and in the residential areas,” said Dr Mnkandla.

She said the council has addressed the issue of water supply as its residents and businesses are getting water 24 hours a day and seven days a week.

“We are also developing a new master plan for the CBD as we seek to attract new investment,” said Dr Mnkandla.

Mr Anthony Ncube of Mkoba 7 suburb in Gweru said residents were witnessing positive change in service delivery.

He, however, said council should improve on water supply as residents in some suburbs were going for days without water

“As residents, we want to thank the actions by our President and Minister of State, which have seen these city fathers working to improve service delivery. We used to experience some serious accidents, especially in the CBD, but these accidents have been reduced due to working traffic lights,” said Mr Ncube.

Another resident said there was noticeable improvement on service delivery and commended the Government for pushing councils to fulfill their obligations.