‘No to nepotism in local authorities’
LOCAL authorities in the Midlands have been warned against recruiting casual workers through councillors, since that leads to inefficiency and a partisan workforce, which affects service delivery, Minister of State for Midlands Provincial Affairs and Devolution Owen Ncube said yesterday.
He was officiating at the launch of the “Enhanced clean-up programme” in urban areas and growth points at Mtapa Fresh Produce Market in Gweru yesterday. Mtapa market is home to more than 3 000 vendors who have made the place their home since 2021 when they were relocated from the city centre into proper market stalls during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Town clerks and other officials from urban and rural councils in Midlands attended the programme launch, which comes at a time when the province and the country at large are grappling with the cholera outbreak.
Poor service delivery, inadequate hygiene and inefficient waste management in urban areas, which are usually administered by the opposition CCC, have seen the rapid spread of cholera.
“My office will not tolerate the practice of recruiting casual labourers through elected officials, especially in some urban local authorities as it creates an inefficient and partisan workforce that compromises quality service delivery,” said Minister Ncube.
Regulations governing the hiring of employees through the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Development should be adhered to and that firm corrective action will be taken against errant local authorities who fail to comply.
Minister Ncube urged local authorities to work closely with the Environmental Management Agency and all stakeholders in the implementation of the enhanced clean-up programme.
“Local authorities should ensure that they provide and adhere to daily and weekly waste collections schedules, establish waste sorting, baling and collection sites in every suburb and growth points, establish waste management committees at all food and vegetable markets, vending sites, growth points and any other major business centres and promote waste recycling to drive economic development.”
The enhanced clean-up programme for urban areas and growth points in Midlands emanates from the Government’s directive to local authorities to improve waste management in all areas under their jurisdiction.
The recently launched “We are equal” campaign and “Zero Waste Movement” in Maputo, Mozambique, attended First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa and other First Ladies from Kenya, Nigeria, Malawi and Botswana as well as high level representatives from Eswatini and Rwanda, propelled the urgency of rolling out enhanced waste management in Africa and Zimbabwe, resulting in the Midlands adopting the initiative, said Minister Ncube.
But local authorities were having challenges in waste management, which has resulted in widespread illegal dumping in undesignated areas as is the case with Mtapa market where public health safety had become a cause for concern, justifying intervention by Central Government.
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