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The Herald, October 27, 1992
LACK of a civic complex is now the only stumbling block in the long-standing Chitungwiza Town Council’s ambition to have the country’s third largest urban centre elevated to municipal status, the chairman, Councillor Forbes Magadu, has said.
Cde Magadu said in an interview yesterday that the council had long sought municipal status, which would enable it to act independently in most local authority affairs and issues without recourse or reference to central authority.
The council unsuccessfully applied to the Ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development for the conferment of municipal status.
The application was turned down on the grounds that the town lacked a civic centre in which Town House facilities could be housed, Cde Magadu said.
“The civic centre is council priority now and we plan to site it at the town centre. We would like construction to be underway in the next three or four months but architects designing the town centre phase two blueprint do not seem to be in a hurry at all.”
Cde Magadu argued that Chitungwiza boasted a business population whose asset value made the town the envy of several other urban centres with a municipal status which Chitungwiza desperately sought.
LESSONS FOR TODAY
- A municipality is an area that is bigger than a local board. Municipalities have sufficient size to stand alone and are run by town clerks as opposed to local boards that are run by secretaries.
- Chitungwiza is one of the nine municipalities, which are spread across different parts of the country.
- Chitungwiza, which is commonly referred to as Harare’s dormitory town, was granted municipal status in 1996.
- Chitungwiza, which is also known as Chi-town, is the largest, high- density suburb in Zimbabwe.
Online Reporter