Online Reporter
Remember Deketeke
Municipal Correspondent
THIRTY vehicles and a range of technical equipment have been handed over to officers in the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works to strengthen service delivery and enhance the implementation of Government programmes.
The vehicles are part of a broader fleet acquisition programme under which the ministry has already procured 165 vehicles, with additional deliveries expected in the coming months.
Speaking at the handover ceremony in Harare yesterday, Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe said the acquisition marked “a significant investment in strengthening the operational capacity of the ministry” and would enhance its ability to effectively execute its constitutional mandate.
He also announced that some of the vehicles would be allocated to the ministry’s newly established Department of Reparations, which falls under the Traditional Leadership Support Unit, to support the country’s efforts to pursue reparations for colonial injustices.
“These are the vehicles that are going to be used by those teams to carry out that special mandate that we should at least claim from the British or from our former colonisers that which they plundered from us,” he said.
Minister Garwe said the ministry had challenges in monitoring projects across districts, provinces and local authorities.
“Our engineers, architects and officers could not move from one point to another supervising projects and implementing policies because of the shortage of vehicles,” he said.
“Today’s handover, therefore, marks an important step towards addressing these challenges.”
The vehicles would improve mobility, increase the visibility of Government officials on the ground and strengthen monitoring of projects under the Government’s decentralisation and devolution agenda, he added.
daniel chigunwe