Town clerk decries missed city targets
HARARE’s acting town clerk Engineer Hosea Chisango has slammed some council departments for failing to meet set targets under the city’s 500 day-rapid results initiative.
Addressing delegates at the review of the city’s fifth rapid results initiative on Wednesday, Eng Chisango said the local authority should quickly transform to meet the demands of the new administration ushered in by the justended harmonised elections.
“We have gone through 500 days and from the weekly trackers since the midterm review, I can sense some form of reform fatigue which we need to deal with,” he said.
“This end of term review workshop is coming at a time when important changes have taken place in our country. We went through the harmonised elections on July 30 and this will usher in a new council and a new Government. This, therefore, means that we will have new policy direction.
“The previous government emphasised the need for the public sector to focus on peak performance and we are convinced that this mantra will continue for the development of the country. Peak performance is a major issue that we need to pay attention to.”
Eng Chisango said although the rapid results initiatives were strenuous, they were worth considering as that had introduced a new culture of reporting results which had been lacking in council.
“We have gone through 500 days and we have had our fair share of successes and not so good results,” he said. “One key success over the past 500 days is the development of the investment policy.
“An investment desk in the Office of the Town Clerk was created as a response to one of the key recommendations in the policy.
“It is my hope that the culture of reporting has been entrenched in our teams. I, therefore, expect all teams who had not achieved their goals to continue reporting fortnightly to enable us to track progress and make necessary interventions where necessary.
“With the rapid results initiatives,we expect dramatic results and a business unusual approach.”
Eng Chisango applauded council for the goals that it had implemented during the fifth phase which included the review of the master plan, streamlining procurement and automation.