Recently elected Councilors have vowed to eradicate corruption in the Hwange Local Board. Corruption has been stalking the local authority resulting in the country’s corruption watchdog, Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission (ZACC) swooping on suspected corrupt public officers such as the HLB Town Clerk and Accountant.
The newly elected Hwange Local Board Chairman, Morrison Mafa said corruption is cancerous and has an adverse effect on service delivery. Vowing not to pursue a personal or partisan agenda, Mafa said he was committed to working in a non-partisan fashion to put the best interests of all residents of Hwange and is willing to work with other councillors.
“We have a crop of new councillors who are ready to serve the community of Hwange, the councillors we have here are zealous when it comes to development issues,” said Mafa
“We need to have the provision of water to all the ratepayers, sewages need to be revamped and sanitation” he said.
Mafa indicated that if the proceeds coming from ratepayers are directly channeled to the coffers of HLB, council will improve its service delivery. The council has 20 elected councillors, 15 of whom were voted into power while five came into power through the Proportional Representation (PR) quota.
Hwange Local Board is among the three local authorities in the Hwange district. It has been at loggerheads withresidents over corruption allegations and maladministration. Residents say the maladministration of the local authorities in Hwange had contributed immensely
to a snail pace development in the district.
Wards 1-7 are under the Hwange Local Board but administratively under the concession. These wards pay rates to Hwange Colliery instead which in a way affects the service delivery in such wards. A resident who spoke to this publication said the administration policy in Ward 1-7 affects the way
residents live.
“We have Wards under Hwange Colliery Company Limited, NRZ and ZPC, so in these wards residents fail to question the administration because councillors have no power because the area is owned by private companies,” said Makaela Dube, a Hwange resident.
Source New Ziana
