Open letter to Chitungwiza mayor and councillors

Congratulations to all councillors of Chitungwiza, the 33 of them, (25 directly elected plus eight selected via the 30% women’s quota), for your being duly elected and sworn in as councillors to serve our rapidly growing town from 2023 to 2028.

In the same vein, congratulations to the newly elected mayor and deputy mayoress, councillors Lovemore Maiko and Jerita Mutingwende.

Your work is cut out clearly. I will share with you some of the expectations of residents in terms of local development priorities.

Take note that the list is not in order of priority and is also neither exhaustive nor prescriptive. Some of the priorities include;

1. An independent water source for Chitungwiza since depending on the Harare water has proved to be a pipe dream that can never sustain our daily demands as a town.

The city of Harare through its water sources cannot sustain the ever-increasing demands under its area of specific jurisdiction.

The continuous sinking of boreholes in strategic areas in and around Chitungwiza or at a household level is also not sustainable and have serious negative impact on groundwater levels. As residents in an urban set up, we need clean, safe and running water in our taps.

2. Fully equipped council clinics for easy access to primary healthcare services. Drugs, a motivated staff, ambulances and other basic consumables are needed urgently.

3. A well-serviced and maintained road network within the town and connecting it to other strategic locations.

Navigable feeder roads within some inaccessible suburbs are of paramount importance so that utility vehicles such as refuse collection trucks, ambulances and fire engines among others are able to deliver specific tasks on time and as expected.

4. A clean and safe environment is also good in promoting hygiene and a healthy living. Solid and liquid waste management must be a priority for council.

The time for unjustified excuses is over. We need to address the worsening waste disposal situation. The current system of collection and dumping of refuse is not sustainable.

Establishment of community waste recycling centres is one way that can improve solid waste management. Instead of dumping waste randomly, waste recycling centres should be going around collecting refuse from households or designated temporary dumpsites.

5. Council-owned or operated convectional buses that are reliable, cheap and safe can also address the chaos associated with urban transport at the moment. Kombis have given us a fair share of havoc associated with unlicenced drivers, unroadworthy vehicles, high fares, injuries and avoidable road accident related deaths.

A passenger train through PPPs or twinning arrangements with a city in the developed world can also be a medium to long term consideration towards addressing the recurrent challenges experienced by commuters from Chitungwiza.\

6. For the above to be achieved, council needs to work with other stakeholders and not take an “we know all approach”.

Ordinary residents, residents associations, faith based organizations/churches, CBOs/CSOs, women and youth groups, workers/labour unions, students, and the business community among others provide a pool of ideas and voluntarism that council can fish from in taking Chitungwiza forward in terms of development.

Citizen participation and engagement has prived to be a key ingredient in the work of local authorities and other tiers of government.\

This is my small contribution in support of the newly elected team of councillors. Putting in place a solid team of bureaucrats will also be another essential element to steer our ship forward.

Acting HoDs will not be suitably placed to navigate the harsh macro enonomic situation that we are experiencing as a country.

Over to you our representatives as depolyed to serve Chitungwiza.

All the best in your term of office as a new council.