Kasukuwere: Herdboys Cannot Be Councillors
24 February 2016
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Government has warned that it will now block all those who want to take chances to get into council seeking fortune at the expense of service delivery.
Only qualified and competent people who own properties in town are the best candidates to seek election to become councillors as they will be able to assist in moving council business forward.
Speaking at an all stakeholders consultative and planning workshop, Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Mr Saviour Kasukuwere said there was need to have councillors competent in fields such as engineering, town planning and finance to move council business forward.
“We are going to review the callibre of councillors we have in our local authorities. This ‘bamba zonke’ approach can’t continue. We can’t have someone who, just after herding cattle, stand as a councillor and win. This is not how we can run our local authorities and a country,” he said.
“We are going to look at the constitution and l am sure, we will find a way. A councillor should have either assets and is paid up. I have visited some districts after they summon me because they will be fighting over trivial matters, I cannot even speak of today.”
“As Zanu-PF political commissar, we must look at the calibre we send to council. Someone who can’t read or write is said to be a councillor and the fellow doesn’t even have a road going to his house, but wants to chair the public works committee. People with experience and capacity must come in.”
Mr Kasukuwere said this had forced his ministry to increase the allowances of mayors and councillors to nip the levels of corruption threatening service delivery.
Last year, Harare Mayor Bernard Manyenyeni also bemoaned the majority of councillors in Harare lack essential skills, and said there was need for political parties to forward individuals with reasonable educational qualifications to ensure the smooth running of council.
As such, Minister Kasukuwere said the mess presiding over in local authorities which included flagrant disregard of city by-laws, proliferation of illegal settlements could cease if the ease of doing business is applied and normalised.
“The bureaucratic delays cost us a lot. l was talking to the town clerk of Harare and asked, how long it takes for one to buy land in Harare — seven to eight months, and I am sure this is the situation across the country. We have to cut that bureaucracy to a maximum of 30 days.-State Media

One Reply to “Kasukuwere: Herdboys Cannot Be Councillors”

  1. Saviour the moment we saw councollors coming from nowhere we knew corruption levels will be high, mind you most who seek political office are mostly tsotsis and they can hide behind politics. The only way out is for people with properties in those areas to contest for councillorship not which part they belong to. I wished councils were run not on party lines but on professional lines.

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