News / National
Banker promises to transform Harare CBD
14 Jul 2018 at 11:51hrs | Views
BANKER and economic development consultant, Kudzai Mubaiwa promises to help transform the Harare central business district (CBD) and city into an economic empowerment hub if elected as an independent councillor for ward 6.
Mubaiwa said he does have faith in political parties at local government level because they tended to politicise issues of service delivery at the expense of residents.
"The challenges faced by people in ward six, which covers areas like the Harare CBD and parts of Avondale and Milton Park, can be summed up as #SEI, and that stands for (S) service delivery, where residents have no access to clean water and the only borehole is at a Spar (Montague) branch, which breaks down because it is overwhelmed," she said.
"The other challenge is (E) the economy, where we have a lot of young people that are educated, but are unemployed, and (I), infrastructural problems, where most people that live in flats in the CBD have inadequate infrastructure like lack of playing grounds for children, and Greenwood Park and Harare Gardens are not working."
Mubaiwa said in this information technology age, councillors should often communicate with people to hear their suggestions and grievances.
She said councillors should also engage residents to get clarity and understand issues affecting people.
With vendors and commercial sex workers being part of the communities in the Harare CBD, Mubaiwa said as she went on with her campaigns, she also engaged with them to learn more about the problems they were facing.
"We should appreciate that the issue of vending cannot be solved overnight, and we need to engage them because they are not criminals. With an economy which is ticking they can easily be removed from the streets. What is needed is proper enforcement of council by-laws and vending infrastructure with ablution facilities," Mubaiwa said.
She said criminalising prostitution was not the solution because in her engagements with them, most of them said they needed empowerment to survive.
Mubaiwa is a 36-year-old married woman, who graduated with a banking and finance degree from the National University of Science and Technology.
She also holds a Masters Degree in Development Finance from Stellenbosch University in South Africa.
Mubaiwa said he does have faith in political parties at local government level because they tended to politicise issues of service delivery at the expense of residents.
"The challenges faced by people in ward six, which covers areas like the Harare CBD and parts of Avondale and Milton Park, can be summed up as #SEI, and that stands for (S) service delivery, where residents have no access to clean water and the only borehole is at a Spar (Montague) branch, which breaks down because it is overwhelmed," she said.
"The other challenge is (E) the economy, where we have a lot of young people that are educated, but are unemployed, and (I), infrastructural problems, where most people that live in flats in the CBD have inadequate infrastructure like lack of playing grounds for children, and Greenwood Park and Harare Gardens are not working."
Mubaiwa said in this information technology age, councillors should often communicate with people to hear their suggestions and grievances.
She said councillors should also engage residents to get clarity and understand issues affecting people.
With vendors and commercial sex workers being part of the communities in the Harare CBD, Mubaiwa said as she went on with her campaigns, she also engaged with them to learn more about the problems they were facing.
"We should appreciate that the issue of vending cannot be solved overnight, and we need to engage them because they are not criminals. With an economy which is ticking they can easily be removed from the streets. What is needed is proper enforcement of council by-laws and vending infrastructure with ablution facilities," Mubaiwa said.
She said criminalising prostitution was not the solution because in her engagements with them, most of them said they needed empowerment to survive.
Mubaiwa is a 36-year-old married woman, who graduated with a banking and finance degree from the National University of Science and Technology.
She also holds a Masters Degree in Development Finance from Stellenbosch University in South Africa.
Source - newsday
