HLB swear in New Councillors.

Hwange Local Board has sworn in 20 of its new elected councillors,15 councilors were voted into
power while five came through the Proportional Representation (PR) quota.
Some municipal councils in other parts of the country have already held their swearing in ceremonies
in accordance with the Urban Councils Act.
In an interview, the Ward 7 Councilor, Peterson Ncube of Zanu PF who came into office for the first
time said he is ready to serve the people of Hwange at all cost.
He said there is a need to align Hwange Local Board with the national policies and programmes.
“The nation is working towards youth empowerment, we need to make deliberate efforts and policies
to do with youth empowerment. There is a sensitive issue of drug abuse which the Hwange Local
Board needs to look into. We also need to create an environment that supports women and the elderly
as well.”
The Councillor said it was necessary to work towards incorporating the Hwange Local Board with
other private authorities in the constituency.

“We need to look at the relationship between HLB and Hwange Colliery Company. It is time we
synchronise the two authorities for the development of the community, so that we grow a city that
talks to the demands of the residents. As it is now, the two local authorities are not talking to each
other in terms of planning for the future.
“We do want to work using the party jackets, but we want to work as city fathers for development and
that way we will be able to appeal to all stakeholders. The best answer to tackle corruption is good
governance; let us not cut corners and we need to follow procedures and have systems in place,” he
said.
Ward 2 Councillor, Fani Chirwa who is coming in for the second term said she is ready to bring
gender equality in the district.
“We need to continue lobbying for better service delivery, lower cost of stands as well as gender
equality when it comes to job opportunities,” she said
Meanwhile, the Greater Whange Residents Trust Coordinator, Fidelis Chima said the new councillors
will have to work with communities for development purposes.
“The councillors should work closely with the community for the purposes of improving democracy
and also to improve service delivery. The moment residents see that they are working hand in glove
with councillors, they will feel a sense of ownership in terms of projects development.
“We expect that public documents like the budget, financial reports should be made public as these
should be on the HLB website. We should not struggle to access them,” he said.
Hwange Local Board covers the concession area but when it comes to revenue generation, the
concession area is not contributing anything to the coffers of Hwange local Board.
“The councillors in the concession area do not have any authority since service delivery is in the
hands of private companies such as HLB, ZPC, so we expect that these companies give power to HLB
when it comes to service delivery.”
The councillors took the oath of office before the Acting Town Clerk Paulos Mabhureni and the
Hwange District Development Coordinator Simon Muleya witnessed the swearing in ceremony.
Hwange local Board from Hwange Central Constituency now has 15 urban wards, it lost three of its
rural ward to Hwange East Constituency during the delimitation process.