By Delicious Mathuthu
Its budget season and Gweru residents are engaging their local authority in shaping the city’s 2024 budget demanding prioritisation of service delivery issues above all else.
Over the weekend, November 11 and 12, Gweru City Council was all out in different wards harvesting residents’ ideas, concerns and inputs into the proposed Z$434 billion 2024 budget.
Following awareness work done by civil society organisations and residents associations in Gweru, residents have become more interested in budget making processes with more residents raising their concerns over how the city is and should be run.
Several residents who spoke to Kwedu News pointed out service delivery issues as a key priority area that the 2024 budget should address, with water top in the agenda.
Speaking after one of the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) and Christian Aid meetings, a budget literacy refresher workshops in Gweru, several residents some of whom took part in ward budget consultations said water refuse, health services, basic vending and recreational infrastructure development should be prioritised in next year’s budget.
Elizabeth Marimirofa, a resident who took part in the ZIMCODD workshop said Gweru City Council should prioritise water infrastructure above all else.
“We want our council to invest in water pumps that they keep saying are needed, especially the dresser pumps, at least if they get one reliable pump that can give residents water constantly the better,” she said.
Apart from water, she pleaded for an increase of maternity wards in council clinics.
She also called for funds to be set aside for the revival of recreational facilities.
“Kids are now doing drugs, even from primary school level, because they have nothing to do but if we have recreational facilities maybe this will not happen.
“Like in Ivene we used to have the Muzenda Square but now we no longer have it, we need those spaces for our kids, she said.
Reiterating Marimirofa’s call for revival of recreational facilities in the city, another resident, Grace Mazambane who is also part of young women’s rights movement said such facilities should be prioritised as they could also bring revenue for the council apart from benefitting youths.
“As young women, what we expect in the budget is the revival of recreational facilities. Facilities like the Gweru Theatre which can actually give youths and young women things to do, give us entertainment and divert us from issues such as drug and substance abuse, and also reduce unemployment.
“Whilst its going to educate and entertain us as young people, it will also help our council in terms of generating revenue.
“Instead of hiring other halls in Gweru, if we can revive such facilities it will generate money for council because the place becomes sort of an edutainment hub for young people,” she said.
Mazambane also called for the maintainance of facilities like Ingwe Hall in Senga.
She said Gweru City Council should also set aside a budget for local councilors to at least spend a day in public council halls such as Ingwe Hall, where they can have a desk set there for a day and be accessible to all residents in the ward, attending to some issues such as signing of papers.
Like Marimirofa, Slshe called for the local authority to budget for a maternity ward in Gweru Urban as Gweru Provincial Hospital is being overwhelmed.
She said local polyclinics are helpful but Gweru Urban residents need a maternity ward.
Mazambane added that councils should adopt international standards such as the Abuja Declaration which calls for at least 15 percent of government budgets to be channeled towards health issues.
Another resident and women’s rights activist, Nozipho Rutsate with the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) made emphasis on the need to improve health services in the city.
Apart from the need of more maternity wards, she said the existing maternity wards need more resources and personnel to provide adequate services.
“There are no adequate facilities or personnel like midwives at the clinics to service the number of women that need the service and most end up being refered to General Hospital, so we do need that to be addressed.
“We also require ambulances, we only have one ambulance and that ambulance is not enough. At least if we had six, but for this budget at least if they buy two or three, that can service different areas in Gweru,” she said.
On refuse, Rutsate said: “Women face a huge challenge when our refuse is not collected, a lot of women end up illegally dumping that refuse and we start having issues like the pamper menace.
“So we need periodic refuse collection and they should allocate more resources towards that. We currently have three running refuse compactors instead of 10 that ate needed, and if they at least add two more and have half of what is needed,” she said.
Above all, she said Gweru needs water and it is now public knowledge that Gweru infrastructure is no longer adequate to satisfy the demand, and also gone are the days where power outages are a daily excuse of not providing water.
“We know that there is a complete overhaul of the water system needed, an overhaul of pumps to be able to service the demand needed by the city.
“The Mayors that have been there and the incoming ones know that pumps that are there are no longer able to pump enough water.
“So, much of the budget should be channelled towards water, to upgrade the water system because that is our major problem.
“Water is our biggest problem that needs addressing, everything needs water,” she said.
Another resident who was part of the budget literacy refresher workshop, Spiwe Nzira, said vending spaces and the city’s cemeteries need attention.
“The budget should ensure that residents live better lives. We need vending spaces and order in the city because we are no longer safe with vendors on the pavements and its easy to get robbed on the streets because the pavements are crowded,” she said.
Nzira said there is need for the decommissioned Mtapa cemetery to be maintained, as well as the new Mutasa cemetery.
She said vendors at Mtapa Market are now dumping waste at the Mtapa cemetery and also using it as a toilet, urinating and defecating on graves.
“We don’t want vendors dumping waste on graves, how do relatives of those resting at Mtapa feel when they get there and see dumped waste on their relatives’ graves, or see human feaceas on the tombstones?” she asked.
Nzira said council houses being rented out to residents in Mtapa suburb Section 3 and 7 are not being maintained yet the rentals are too high, hence the need to revisit the rentals and budget for their maintenance in next year’s budget.
On the workshop, National Association of Nongovernmental Organizations (NANGO) Midlands Coordinator, Titus Mangoma, said such refresher workshops help remind those already capacitated on critical issues and also create platforms where different minds meet and map the best way forward.
“What is critical, firstly, is the platform that has been provided for the residents, Residents Associations, Civic Society Organisations to then meet.
“We do understand that the capacity is there, the knowledge is there, the empowerment has been done but these platforms provide a way of refreshing our minds because at times we have issues that we tend to forget, especially issues to do with service delivery within Gweru that need to be addressed,” he said.
“In terms of what is key and critical for residents is availing of critical information or critical documents that will enable them to scrutinise the budget before consultations, be it during feedback meetings or any meeting that is important for residents.
“For example, a pre-budget statement is also critical to analyse and see the priority areas that have been proposed to focus on. Each and every year there are priority areas proposed from the executive or national government,” Mangoma said.
ZIMCODD Central Region Coordinate, Gracia Mashingaidze said the purpose of such workshops is to enlighten residents on the right questions to ask during budget making and monitoring.
“We want residents to make the correct asks to local authorities and also make meaningful and relevant contributions so that they contribute from an informed point of view and also monitor and track the budget throughout the year. Know exactly what they are monitoring and tracking,” she said
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