Victoria Falls commissions Belarus fire tenders

THE Victoria Falls City Council has commissioned two fire tenders bought using devolution funds.

City mayor, Councillor Prince Thuso Moyo and Town Clerk Mr Ronnie Dube commissioned the fire tenders at a ceremony that also doubled as the relaunch of the Mayor’s Cheer Fund.

The city suspended fundraising for the Cheer Fund before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking at the recent commissioning event, Mr Dube said the council had benefited immensely from Government’s devolution funds, which have resulted in the procurement of critical service delivery enablers such as fire tenders.

“The local authority received two fire tenders from the Government, which are being commissioned today.

We want to thank the Government for this support that will go a long way in improving service delivery,” said Mr Dube.

He said the council should respond quickly to distress calls in the event of disasters such as accidents and fire outbreaks.

“We are therefore very grateful to the Government for availing these fire tenders to enable us to promptly respond to distress calls. In our operations, we have always addressed emergency cases within the standard reaction timeline and I believe these fire tenders will further improve our reaction time,” said Mr Dube.

Victoria Falls attained city status in 2019 and the council has been slowly upgrading its service to meet city status.

As the city beefs up its disaster management, there is also a need to upgrade other services such as water, roads and some buildings.

Turning to the launch of the Cheer Fund, Mr Dube said it was befitting to relaunch it on the third anniversary of the attainment of the city status.

Clr Moyo said due to economic challenges, many vulnerable members of the community needed assistance.

He said some children fail to go to school largely because parents cannot afford fees even at the cheapest school.