Pay council bills for effective service delivery: Marian Chombo

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By Elvis Dumba

Banket – Residents should ensure that council bills are paid timeously for the local authority to effectively provide service delivery to the residents.

The call was made by the Deputy Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Hon Marian Chombo, in Banket.

Hon Chombo said residents should play their part in ensuring they get quality service delivered from Banket Town Board as development needs a united support of teamwork for effective development.

“There are issues of roads, water, school and medical infrastructure which are needed but for Banket to grow, it needs the support of everyone as you and me have a role to play,” she said.

“You can not just wait for your councilors to advance a development agenda on service delivery when the residents yourselves do not want to pay council rates so that council carries out its duties such as refuse collection and road maintenance.”

Hon Chombo, who is also a member of parliament for Zvimba North Costituency, was addressing ZANU PF supporters in Banket during a familiarization visit to the constituency’s new ward from the the electoral delimitation process.

Zvimba Rural District Council’s Ward 23 in Banket, which was part of Zvimba South Costituency, was delimited and transfered to Zvimba North Constituency.

Hon Chombo was received resoundingly by party supporters in Banket at the meeting where she promised to work hand in hand with residents to ensure the development of Banket into a smart town.

She urged party supporters to get registered as voters so that they can contribute towards the five million votes for President Emmerson Mnangagwa in the 2023 Harmonised elections.

“I am humbled by the way you have received and accepted me here. I promise I will work hand in hand with you to uplift this place. I request you to defend the development of this place through registering as voters so that we offer our President Emmerson Mnangagwa an emphatic victory that surpasses ZANU PF’s 1980 landslide victory.”

Ward 23 Councillor, Richard Muganhiri, said he is hopeful that the coming on board of Hon Chombo as the member of parliament will proffer solutions to some of the challenges being faced by residents.

“We are happy with your coming to work as our member of parliament as we are confident that some of the problems we have been facing as a council and as residents will be tackled with a united front, ” he said.

Headman Katizagombo, born Gibson Jenami, said Zimbabweans should remain united and work hard to attain the achievement of national development strategy being spearheaded by the visionary leadership of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

“Remain united as you work hard so that we both contribute to the success of various programs which are being spearheaded by our visionary, President Mnangagwa, in areas such as agriculture, construction, mining and others so that we achieve an upper middle income economy by 2030,” he told the residents.

Hundreds of ZANU PF supporters in Banket who attended the meeting said they are looking forward to the acceleration of development of Banket, which has remained stagnant for some time.

“We are happy as female residents of Banket that we have Honorable Chombo who is not coming just as a member of parliament but as our mother who will address some of the challenges we have been facing as residents,” Rutendo Ngara, a ZANU PF district women’s league chairlady said.