Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. BINDURA mayor Jacob Gwature says the municipality is working towards partnering other private players to restructure the old water system which is no longer fit to accommodate the ballooning population, a development that is expected to complete in October this year.
Speaking Friday at a Local Government Learning and Exchange Lab hosted by the Institute for Young Women’s Development (IYWD) at Rainbow Towers Hotel in Harare, Gwature emphasised that private stakeholders should take part in the process of service delivery.
In an interview with NewsDay on the sidelines of the workshop, the Bindura mayor said the town plan, designed decades ago, was no longer fit to cater for the current population.
“As council, we honestly do not have enough resources to finance or revamp the water system,” Gwature said.
“I am glad that we have various stakeholders, including mining companies, who will partner us to deliver this project and we are going to have a dedicated supply of piped water to our extraction point before we expand the plant.
“Now we have water challenges considering that we have a lot of artisanal mining going on.”
IYWD Knowledge management documentation and advocacy co-ordinator Kudakwashe Munemo said the quality of social service delivery in most districts and provinces of Zimbabwe has steadily declined since the turn of the millennium.
He indicated that this has resulted in violation of citizen’s basic social and economic rights, such as poor maintenance of road infrastructure and access to water, sanitation and health care services.
The issue of service delivery has been a major concern in various local councils amid rampant corruption and gender inequality within local authorities across the country.
Women Affairs ministry district development co-ordinator for Hwedza, Sarudzai Musekiwa, said gender responsive practices have the potential to improve service delivery and address gender equality within communities.
Combined Gokwe Residents and Ratepayers Association director Charity Mugwani said they have been engaging responsible authorities in Gokwe as a strategy to monitor and evaluate service delivery at grassroots level.
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