Online Reporter
Diana Nherera
Norton Town Council councillors and management on Thursday renewed their integrity pledges as part of the local authority’s commitment to promoting ethical conduct and combating corruption.
Speaking during the signing ceremony, Norton Town Council Town Secretary, Mr Kizito Muhomba, said this was the third time that council had renewed its integrity pledges.
“We are committed not only to signing the pledges, but also to upholding and implementing everything contained in them,” he said.
Mr Gwezhira, the Legal Officer from the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC), emphasised the importance of collaborative efforts in fighting corruption within local authorities.
“This initiative goes a long way in the fight against corruption. We cannot succeed by working in isolation or maintaining a silo mentality,” he said.
He said that residents expected efficient service delivery and urged all stakeholders to work together to ensure that citizens received the best possible services.
“Our citizens require quality service delivery. We must therefore put all hands on deck and ensure that they are served to the best of our ability,” he said.
Mr Gwezhira further urged participants to ensure that the renewal of the integrity pledges was meaningful.
“Let the renewal of our pledges not be merely cosmetic. We must put into practice what we have pledged,” he said.
Bongani Ndlovu
Childish!! Why sign pledges so often? Norton is arguably the most dusty town in the country. Why EMA and the Ministry of Health don’t take action about this leaves one to think that the two organisations’ officials take bribes from the council. Children, old people and those with chronic health problems are suffering due to dusty gravel roads put up by Norton Council and never watered to keep the dust down. Katanga market centre is a hole in hell where market stall compete with traffic for space on the roads. Everything is everywhere with bursting sewage and trash all over. Mishikashika, touts, vendors, fish mongers, and thousands of school children adding to the Katanga confusion. A dusty patch under electricity pylons is used as a recreational facility for both schools and township residents. Not one person realises that it is a very dangerous place to play football. It appears even ZESA doesn’t care if one or more of the overhead High Tension lines snap and fall to the ground while people are playing games. Norton is a mess. It is the only town in the country that sits between two big water bodies, lakes Chivero and Manyame yet residents live with no running water in their taps. People have resorted to drilling their own boreholes. So what pledges are the councillors signing ever so often? Pledging what and to who? Norton should be the best example of a council well run because it has all the resources but a useless Member of Parliament and a council that spends time signing insignificant pledges are the problems holding back development of the place.