Promoting sustainable public procurement

Gokwe town council, Chirum- Vision 2030. hanzu, Zibagwe and Vungu Mr Magura said his entity promo- Rural District Councils (RDC) tes local companies through contracting Scooped Buy Zimbabwe Appreciation them for equipment and services. award last week during the Public “The award was given in recogn- Procurement Award ceremony held at ition of our procurement processes Rainbow Towers and Conference Cen- which have been seen to be promoting tre in Harare recently. local suppliers of goods and services.

Vungu RDC Chief executive “Our processes have been seen to officer said their careful approach to be promoting local suppliers and, procurement processes has allowed the therefore, to have heeded the call of the rural representative entity to be selected Buy Zimbabwe campaign. for excellent performance. “We show that our own suppliers

“What makes us unique from other can meet the challenge in terms of organizations is our meticulous appro- supplying high quality goods and ach to procurement. services that have enabled us to meet

“We have put in place a professi- our service delivery mandate as a rural onal unit to take charge of the local authority,” said Magura. procurement function in accordance Mostly Rural municipalities domi- with the law, '' he said. nated the award ceremony, which inclu-

He added, “This award is a recogn- des Midlands Chirumhanzu RDC, ition that we are doing something right Tongogara RDC, Vungu RDC, Zibagwe that we are proud of and we will not sit RDC, all from the Midlands province. on our laurels, '' he said. Chivi RDC and Gutu RDC from

Mr Magura vowed to foster good Masvingo have also been awarded. procurement practice as they work Sanyati RDC from Mashonaland towards attainment of vision 2030. west, Mudzi RDC from Mash East and

“We will endeavour to continue to Umzingwane RDC from Matabeleland improve our practice to realize a level of south made the list to 9 RDCs awarded. unparalleled excellence. Mr Magura said as Rural authority, they

“This can only help us to improve inherently procure goods and services our service delivery as we seek to move from local companies adding that they

with the rest of the nation towards have a professional procurement staff which suit the task.

“As a rural local authority, we are always procuring goods or services of one kind or another.

“We have, therefore, set up a Procurement Management Unit (PMU) staffed by procurement professionals.

“The PMU carries out its tasks professionally and diligently to ensure that we comply with the law,” said Magura.

He added, “We expect our procurement activities to expand as we gradually expand our service delivery activities.

“We will also seek to continue promoting local suppliers without compromising the core values of the

procurement function which include transparency, competitiveness and value for money, '' he said.

The award was mainly for local companies and sought to promote sustainable public procurement which is beneficial to local companies.

Different key stakeholders such as decision makers and procurement entities have been brought together for the benefit of local procurement with an e m p h a s i s on sustainability and preferential domestic procurement.