Gwinji elected Shurugwi Town Council chair

ZANU-PF Councillor Walter Gwinji is the new chairperson of Shurugwi town council following elections that were held last week.

Clr Gwinji will be deputised by fellow party member and Cllr Maggie Mudzimu.

The local authority has a total of 13 councillors of which seven councillor belong to the ruling ZANU-PF party while remainder are on an MDC-Alliance ticket. The councillors were sworn into office on Monday by the district administrator Mr Langton Mupeta.

Speaking during the swearing in ceremony, Mr Mupeta encouraged councillors to respect their offices and represent the people who voted for them into office.

“As councillors, you were given a crucial task by villagers, and residents making up Shurugwi town and it is now your duty to humbly represent them well in council. Now that you have taken your oath of office, please respect those offices and never engage in any corrupt activities,” he said.

“I would like to urge the newly elected chairman to be competent in all he does. This is a very crucial position and you are reminded to always put people first. We hope this town will be taken to greater heights under your stewardship.”

In his acceptance speech, Cllr Gwinji pledged to put the needs of Shurugwi people first.

“As the newly elected chairperson of Shurugwi town council I pledge that I will focus more on the needs of the people who elected us into office. There is a need to improve service delivery which includes garbage collection, addressing water shortages and infrastructure development in rural Shurugwi. I am going to be a listening chairperson,” he said.

He encouraged other councillors to be united and work together for the development of Shurugwi as a whole.

“We have councillors representing villagers and the rural areas and those representing residents in town. Our sole goal is socio-economic development of our areas and we must be united to achieve that goal,” said Cllr Gwinji.