'Council did not authorise Gwanda councillor to do road works,' fellow councillor

Municipality of Gwanda Councillor for ward 4 Mduduzi Malaba Ncube has indicated that Gwanda Council did not authorise fellow councillor for Ward 9 Thulani Moyo to do the controversial road works taking place in his ward.

Councillor Ncube said this speaking at a Gwanda Agenda convened public discussion on service delivery by the local authority in the town. According to Ncube all developmental work that must be done in the town must be through an official council resolution and to certain set and agreed standards. All such work is usually done by council staff using council equipment and if the task has to be out sourced an official tender is flighted where tender procedures are followed to award the job to an external person.

Councillor Ncube indicated that the local authority did not at all sanction the councillor to do the work nor was the proposal to do the job ever tabled to council. Council only came to know of the work being done when residents started raising questions on who was given the tender to do the job and questioning the safety of the gravel that was being put on the road.

Asked on what they council is doing about the matter, Councillor Ncube indicated that the issue is yet to be tabled before full council for any possible redress. He however did not want to confirm the safety of the gravel indicating that as far as he knows a certain road in the town has been closed from public use because the said gravel was used on the resurfacing of the road and was condemned by environmental specialists.

Speaking at his ward meeting two weeks ago, Councillor Moyo indicated that he does not need anyone's authority to do anything in his ward especially if its work done using his own resources. He claimed that all those who were questioning the work he is doing in his ward were his political rivals who are out to destroy him but will unfortunately fail to do that. He said that if the gravel is to be condemned he does not mind as he is ready to go on and remove the gravel and put tar on all the roads in his ward without anyone's authority or approval.

Speaking further, Councillor Malaba Ncube indicated that the Municipality of Gwanda is on a very intensive drive to improve service delivery to the residents. He indicated that in only seven months in office their council has already managed to source a new refuse collection truck which should be delivered to the town by mid April to improve refuse collection. He also indicated that they have also in the short time managed to allocate funds to repair all street lights in the town and will soon be setting up four new tower lights in the high density suburbs over and above repairing the ones that are currently in place and have been out of order for over a decade.

On the issue of the erratic water supplies the town is facing, council Ncube further blamed Zimbabwe National Water Authority ZINWA for refusing to hand over the water treatment and reticulation plant to council. He further stated that the water that ZINWA is supplying the town is not fit for human consumption as it is not thoroughly purified raising concerns from the residents attending the meeting. Asked why council was not warning residents of the unsafe water, Councillor Ncube quickly assured the residents that the issue is under council attention and corrective measures will be set up as soon as possible.

Speaking at the same forum, Ms Lorraine Ndlovu who was representing women of the town and works with the Women's Coalition of Zimbabwe castigated council for failing to provide adequate health care services for the town. She indicated that the fast growing town is still being serviced by only one health facility and its a serious challenge to women who need continuous access to a health facility. She also complained to council for its poor refuse collection schedule which exposed women to extra work in handling refuse. Councillor Ncube promised to take up the issues with council urgently.

Responding to a question from the floor on how far true the rumour was that Councillors recently had a fist fight in the council chambers and that council is divided and does not respect the Mayor, councillor Ncube indicated that the councillors are trying by all means to work together as brothers though tempers do rise in some cases. He went further to put the responsibility of bringing order and discipline in the chambers on the shoulders of the Mayor. He however blamed the current Urban Councils Act for restricting the Mayor's ability to discipline any way ward councillors.