The ManicaPost
Post Reporter
RUSAPE Town Council has come under fierce criticism from residents as well as rate payer associations for poor service delivery.
A check by The Manica Post in the high density suburbs of Vengere, Tsanzaguru and Magamba revealed that roads are dilapidated while garbage is strewn all over without any scheduled collection times.
There is only one dumb truck that serves the whole town whose population is around 35 000.
An elderly woman in Vengere Ward 4, Mbuya Eunice Mbewe (83) narrated the squalid conditions in the NHS residential area which falls under councillor Elizabeth Chidza.
She chronicled how the local councillor left for ZITF in Bulawayo during the month of April 2019 at a time when the body of one victims of Cyclone Idai who hailed from the area had just arrived from Chimanimani for burial.
Apparently, four of the nine MDC councillors travelled to Bulawayo for the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) between April 22 and 27 this year to add on to RTC staff that also travelled to Bulawayo for the same event.
“On several occasions, we as elderly women have reached out to Chidza for assistance. As you can see, I am now too old to work but we were told point blank that we should raise our concerns to the party we voted for.
“It is not the councillor alone who politicises assistance and job opportunities in the town, but even the Member of Parliament, Mr David Tekeshe. We regret having such kind of leaders in this area and we really miss Cde Patrick Chinamasa,” she said.
Cde Chinamasa is the former MP for Makoni Central which covers the entire urban area of Rusape.
Contacted for comment, Concerned Rusape Residents Trust (CRRT) Chairperson Mr Godfrey Mafuranhewe said there bitterness over councillor’s ineptness.
“Residents continue to pester me over the conduct of some of our councillors. I will not mention names but I was confronted by residents complaining that we have ex convicts, former taxi drivers and womanisers among our councillors, no wonder things are not moving,” he said.
Tamuka Marambidza from the newly established Crocodile Park low density suburb said: “It is a public secret that in council we have recycled deadwood. There is a lady councillor who was once arrested in March 2015 for illegally selling an industrial stand. How do we expect anything positive from such a character? It is a farce.”
A council employee, who requested anonymity said: “They do not comprehend basic issues and are terribly illiterate so they can hardly make progressive decisions. It is a shame that a party chooses clowns without the basic Ordinary level qualifications into office and expects them to deliver. We do not want to be led by thieves and political opportunists who are ignorant in terms of spearheading development.”
