Minister Garwe headlines UCAZ consultative workshop in Bulawayo

THE Minister of Local Government and Public Works Daniel Garwe is today expected to headline the Urban Councils Association of Zimbabwe (UCAZ) consultative workshop that is set for a Bulawayo hotel.

The workshop, that ends on Friday is meant to review UCAZ’s Strategic Plan (2024-2028)whose broader objective is to align with the nation’s Vision 2030. UCAZ represents the country’s 32 urban local authorities.

Mayors and town clerks, representatives of Government departments and parastatals are expected to be part of the participants.

UCAZ Secretary Mr Livison Mutekede said the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works is expected to give direction on how UCAZ can contribute towards Vision 2030.

He said Local authorities are expected to contribute towards Government’s Vision 2030 whose aim is for Zimbabwe to attain an upper middle income economy status by 2030. The vision will be attained through the National Development Strategy (NDS1), the Call-to-Action – No Compromise to Service Delivery blueprint and Devolution among other strategies.

UCAZ is therefore expected to play a pivotal role in rallying its members towards contributing to the national vision.

Today’s proceedings will start with the host city Mayor Councillor David Coltart giving his opening remarks and will be followed by a presentation on UCAZ’s achievements and challenges by its president.

Minister Garwe, who will be accompanied by the Ministry’s permanent secretary Professor John Bhasera will then give his keynote address before plenary sessions on various topics.

The workshop comes on the background of an adverse audit report by the auditor general in which all the urban local authorities’ financial accounts were red flagged, for falling short of international accounting standards.

The audit covered aspects on governance issues, revenue collection and debt recovery, management of assets, procurement of goods and services, employment issues and service delivery.