Gweru residents welcome Mnangagwa’s call for continuous engagement between council & residents
By Delicious Mathuthu
Gweru Residents have welcomed President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s call for Gweru City Council to continuously engage residents as it tries to develop, and ensure that their views are taken on board.
President Mnangagwa made the call for proper engagement between Gweru City Council and its residents to strengthen participatory democracy during his Freedom of the City acceptance speech at the Gweru Civic Centre on Friday (31 March 2023).
He said dialogue should be central as people’s voices matter in development.
“…always keep the residents continuously engaged and dialogue open, as opposed to restricting interactions with them during the budget formulation process.
“As we entrench democracy, participatory governance and private sector led development in our country, our people’s voice must be heard, and their views taken on board,” President Mnangagwa said.
In an interview with Kwedu News, one of the local residents representative, Gweru Residents and Rate Payers Association (GRRA) Executive Director, Cornilia Selipiwe, said President Mnangagwa echoed what residents have always been yearning for over the years.
“We are happy as Gweru residents that His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Dr. E. D. Mnangagwa echoed the same sentiments that we have always been saying.
“We have always been crying or bemoaning the issue of engagement, not just engaging but proper engagement.
“We have always said our local authority only engages us when it’s time around budget, the President said the same thing.
“So there is something wrong in terms of how our local authority is engaging it’s residents, there is something wrong in terms of the relationship that the local authority has with its own residents.
“So the President is simply saying engage and engage and engage, ” Selipiwe said.
He said genuine and sincere engagement by council will ensure residents take ownership of whatever development happens and the President has amplified that need.
“When you are doing consultations, do sincere consultations; consultations that are meaningful, that value the sentiments of residents because at the end of the day residents will then have ownership in terms of whatever progress or whatever development is happening in its own locality.
“So, thanks so much to the President, he echoed our same sentiments; thanks so much to the President he amplified our voices in terms of engagement because engagement is the key and we believe that our local authority, probably, they will take it from what the President said and then start engaging us sincerely, not only on budgets but on any other developmental issues that they might need to embark on,” Selipiwe said.
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