By Terence Tikiti
ALL Rural Councillors under Gwanda Rural District Council were last week given motorbikes for use during the course of their official duties.
The Rural District Council recognised the plight of councillors as far as transport and mobility were concerned.
The recognition follows pleas by councillors, who travel long distances by foot or own transport in trying to fulfil their promises of improving service delivery to the community.
Gwanda Rural District Council (GRDC) distributed 27 motorbikes to its Councillors last week. This move will ease transport challenges and mobility for the smooth flow of ward operations and administration. The GRDC also purchased a tipper truck and backhoe loader vehicles for the construction and maintenance of infrastructural projects.
The event was attended by all the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Matabeleland South Province Dr Evelyn Ndlovu, Member of Parliament for Gwanda-Tshitaudze Constituency, Fisani Moyo, District Development Co-ordinator, 27 ward councillors of GRDC, urban councillors, traditional leaders, and other invited Government stakeholders.
Dr. Evelyn Ndlovu applauded the GRDC for such a stride towards community sustainable development in the district.
“This is the great day for us to honour the good works of our dedicated councillors from our various wards. Today, we are commissioning the tipper truck, backhoe loader and motorbikes to the councillors in a bid to improve service delivery within our communities. This marks a significant milestone in our collective journey towards national mantra and Vision 2030.
“I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to Gwanda RDC for their response and unwavering support in the provision of these modes of transport to the for effective service delivery to rural population. The procurement of these assets is a testament to make sure all the councillors are effectively covering all areas of their respective wards in a bid to achieve community sustainable development.
“I am really impressed with such an innovative solution by the GRDC to source funds and purchase these motorbikes for their ward councillors. This gesture is in line with His Excellency, the President Cde Dr. Emerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa’s mantra of leaving no one and no place behind,” she said.
In an interview the GRDC Chief Executive Officer, Ranganai Sibanda, told Ilanga that these assets were procured from the RDC’s own revenue resources.
“The purchase of these assets was funded from the council’s own revenue resources. The tipper truck was purchased at USD$79500, Backhoe loader USD$54142 and motorbikes at USD$39433.
The construction vehicles will improve service delivery and fulfill the national priority on infrastructure and utilities; roadworks and other construction activities will be undertaken, and also quality of the works will improve thereby meeting the community needs.
“Motorcycles will improve mobility of councillors and visibility, enhancing the performance of the councillors within the wards,” he said.
One of the beneficiaries of the motorbikes, Ward 3 Councillor Lilian Linda Moyo, who is also the Proportional Representative (PR), expressed her gratitude to His Excellency the President through the RDC for such a gesture to councillors.
“I was to express my heartfelt gratitude to our President Cde Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa through the RDC for such an effort of providing us with motorbikes. This will go a long way in alleviating and relieve us from the incapacitation and failure to fully perform our duties as required. We used to travel long distances on own on and sometimes you will be forced to sleep over there so that you can manage to hold community meetings,” she said.
The RDC chairperson, Mphathiswa Ncube, who is the councillor for Ward 26 applauded the efforts by the council as he happened to be a beneficiary of the motorbikes.
“As councillors, we were really facing some difficulties and challenges in reaching out to cover the whole ward. Some of the wards would have more than 10 villages to be covered by a councillor. Therefore, the procurement of these motorbikes will indeed ease transport challenges among the councillors,” said Councillor Ncube.
