Staff Reporter

MARONDERA- The provincial capital of Mashonaland East, Marondera, needs to be in the forefront of all development and improve service delivery to all stakeholders so that other towns will take a leaf from it as big brother.

This was the message that came out at a recent interface meeting which was attended by the councillors, management, heads of Government departments and agencies as well as other key stakeholders.

The Municipality of Marondera needs to up its game in terms of service delivery because its failure to do so will be a big letdown to the province.

The Minister of Mashonaland East Provincial Affairs and Devolution Advocate Itayi Ndudzo at the meeting urged the local authority, as the provincial capital to always walk the talk whenever it initiates programmes and projects.

“We are here to complement each other to deliver on Government promises and aspira-tions of the people of Zimbabwe as enshrined in our national Constitution. Marondera is the biggest local authority in Mashonaland East and if it’s rotten, the province rots as well. If there is development in the town, the province develops. This is the pinnacle of the province,” he said.

The Municipality of Marondera has a vision of becoming a vibrant smart city of service excellence by 2030 in line with the country’s Vision 2030 of becoming an empowered upper-middle income economy five years from now.

However, Advocated Ndudzo who was born and raised in Marondera challenged the council to be sincere and seriously implement programmes that can drive it towards achieving the vision.

He said: “As I grew up here, service delivery was excellent. Everything was done in an orderly manner. The Municipality has a good vision of becoming a smart city of excel-lence in tow of the nation’s Vision 2030. When we set a vision, we must also set a strat-egy to realise it. We must avoid talking about a vision, programmes or projects that will never see the light of the day. In simple terms, we must walk the talk.”
The Minister added that when goals are set, they must be real with specific details and have timeframes.

Marondera Mayor Chengetai Murowa concurred with the Minister adding that the interac-tion came at a time the provincial capital was going through transformation courtesy of the focus on recapitalisation and investment promotion.

He reiterated that the municipality is firmly focused on attaining the nation’s Vision 2030 which it has incorporated into the Municipality’s Vision of being a Vibrant Smart City of Service Excellence by 2030.

“Council stands ready to work with you to tackle challenges and obstacles that will inevi-tably come our way on our development path. We have embraced the Government’s de-velopment agenda wholly by operationalising the Call to Action: No Compromise to Ser-vice delivery which was launched by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in November 2023 and the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS-1).”

The Mayor said his municipality has been working to improve the lives of residents and stakeholders having made significant progress in many areas.

“However, we are not immune to challenges. We face difficulties in accessing adequate resources and providing services to the high levels that we would desire. We believe that with your support and guidance, we can overcome these obstacles and achieve our goals,” Murowa said.

The Mayor also urged stakeholders to have a collective sense of ownership towards the development of Marondera.