Zanu-PF councillor taken to task over lack of development

Community members from Ward 7 in Insiza South have accused their local councillor, Thabani ‘Malele' Ncube, of failing to deliver yet is seeking re-election in the upcoming elections.

The community members complained that Vokola and surrounding areas had no clinics, boreholes and a police station, while the councillor insisted there was some form of development taking place.

Raising their concerns in their community WhatsApp platform, the villagers declared that they need local authority leaders who would deliver and not lie to them.

They even claimed that Ncube had suffered internal party competition because other Zanu-PF members wanted him out.

"If Ncube is truly confident about his purported development, why did his comrades in Zanu contest  against him in the primaries? This was a reflection that they could do better than the sitting councillor," said a community member.

"Malele, this is the campaign season let your work speak for itself if there is any. As a leader you are there to be judged."

In his response, the Zanu-PF councillor claimed the community were hard to please as development had been taking place in Ward 7.

"The development that people are talking about is there in Ward 7. It's unfortunate that some of the community members are based in South Africa and can't see it, " Ncube said, acknowledging that he was taking note of the community's grievances.

Ncube said it was wrong for the community to point fingers at him yet he had issued more than 10 business stands in Vokola Shopping Centre and supported an initiative of road rehabilitation programme done by the community.

"This is development. You can talk of the Mbembesi bridge – cement was put there and that is development. As I speak in Mbembesi for the first time in history, the hall foundation has been dug. I do not know which lack of development the people are talking about," said the Zanu-PF councillor.

He added that in Singwambidzi Clinic, 15 solar panels were installed and three boreholes were drilled but water could not be found.

"However, a 5 000 litre jojo tank was put there and there is adequate staff at the clinic," Ncube stated.

The councillor noted that the issue of the police base, which the group members had raised was yet to be addressed.

"We are waiting for police officers to be deployed in Vokola and we applied to have a police base. Unfortunately, the police said there is a shortage of police staff because of Covid-19 as they were not recruiting at the time and I understood their explanation due to the pandemic," Ncube said, adding any time after elections, the authority would go back to the police administration to check for progress.

"This is development," the councillor quipped.

Ncube, however, was not pleased with the community addressing their grievances in the community WhatsApp group, claiming it was the wrong platform to discuss politics, preferring that the villagers rather inbox him directly.

His sentiments were squashed by villagers who said the platform was necessary while others disputed his claims that renovations were taking place at the Mbembesi Bridge.

"It's shocking to hear the councillor speaking of development in Mbembesi yet we the villagers know nothing about this bridge. When it's raining, we cannot cross and end up sleeping in Vokola because we do not have a bridge but leaders claim it's there," said a baffled group member.