Gwanda comes out shining!

Gwanda Town is all smiles and aglow today following a successful three day conciliatory and unification workshop held in the town this week.

The workshop organised by the Local Government Community Capacity Building and Development Trust (LGCCBDT) brought together the Town Council, Residents and all other key stakeholders in the administration and development of the town. The key focus of the workshop was to bring the parties together to address issues of service delivery which were gradually turning the relationship between the Council and its Residents into a cat and mouse affair.

Over the years the residents of Gwanda have always been up in arms with council over poor service delivery especially on matters like erratic water, poor road network, lack of public lighting, continuous sewer blockages and provision of unserviced stands. The rivalry led to residents and stakeholders losing confidence in the administration of the town resulting in clear resistance from residents in playing their part in the running of the town making it difficult for a comprehensive operation of the town.

The three day workshop started on Tuesday with the coordinators meeting the town councillors and council staff without the residents and stakeholders. Council was given a task to make an assessment of its operations on all service delivery components. On Wednesday it was the turn of the residents and stakeholders led by the Residents Association to also give an assessment of the council's operations on the same matters.

The climax of the workshop was on Friday when the two groups were brought together to come out with a consolidated assessment of the town's operations. Before the start of the Friday proceedings tension between the two parties was visible as confirmed by the divided seating preferences by the delegates. Council occupied a separate corner of the house while residents took the other sides of the conference room.

Tension was diffused by the Mayor of the town Councillor Knowledge Ndlovu who in his opening remarks asked the delegates to put away all the perceived differences and focus on discussing issues for the betterment of the town as united Gwandians. His sentiments were echoed by the Chairman of the LGCCBDT, Mr Christopher Matumbike who emphasised that the purpose of the workshop was to bring the parties together for a united purpose towards development.

After a couple of presentations by the workshop facilitators on the objectives of the workshop and the expected outcomes, tension went down paving way to a logical and sober combined assessment of service delivery by council. Both parties surprisingly discussed and allowed criticism from the other prompting the meeting to come out with a precise assessment of the town's service delivery process.

To confirm the harmonious deliberations in the workshop, council financial management in general and revenue collection in particular came out as the major priority area that council must address. The residents gave a surprising assurance to council that going forward they will fully take up their role in paying their bills to council so as to enable council to provide services efficiently. Several suggestions were given to council by residents on how council would raise its income to cater for capital and recurrent expenditures.

At the end of the day an all inclusive Service Delivery Monitoring Committee was set up to provide a continuous monitoring and evaluation programme for the town's service provision. The workshop was taken through the process of coming up with a Service Delivery Charter for the town which the committee was tasked to work on and produce within the next three months. The committee comprising of four councillors, four council staff, a representative each from the Residents Association, Women, Youth, Disabled, Business Fraternity, NGOs, local Media and Civil Servants will serve for an interim period of three months to prepare the service delivery charter after which a substantive committee is expected to be put in place.

Speaking at the end of the workshop, the Chairman of the Residents Association Mr Gilbert Dube expressed his heartfelt joy that the workshop had been a huge success and has left the town united and geared to work together for the development of the town. LGCCBDT Chairman, Mr Matumbike thanked the people of Gwanda for coming together and coming out of the exercise smiling when other odds expected that the exercise was going to cause more feuding between the parties involved. He indicated that his Trust will seriously consider taking the exercise on a nation wide scale and assured Gwanda of their support as a pilot centre for the exercise.