BY STEPHEN CHADENGA POLITICAL activists from different parties in Gweru have urged the electorate to vote for competent councillors in next year’s elections to enhance service delivery.
Speaking last Friday at a Gweru Residents and Ratepayers Association (GRRA) meeting dubbed “The Councillor We Want”, activists drawn from Zanu PF, Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) and MDC-T said there was need to put political differences aside and choose the best councillors for the development of the city.
“As residents, we are being partisan in the way we choose our representatives. Our politics is polarised and the question is: are we choosing capable leaders? Going into 2023, we have to vote for councillors who have the qualities to push for service delivery in the city,” an MDC-T activist said.
A Zanu PF activist concurred, saying voting for a capable councillor, despite the party they represented, was progressive.
“I have to be honest. In my ward 8, although I voted for the presidential candidate from my party, I voted for the opposition council candidate,” the Zanu PF activist said.
A female CCC activist said as residents, they were driven by party emotions in the way they elected their councillors.
“As residents, we rarely look at the credentials of the candidate, but vote with emotions just because the person is from my party,” she said.
Development and peace studies expert Didymus Dewa urged people to vote for service delivery champions.
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“As Gweru, we have to be politically mature and vote for people who have the drive to bring development to the city,” Dewa said.
Addressing the same meeting, Women Coalition of Zimbabwe Gweru chapter chairperson Nozipho Rutsate urged residents to vote for female candidates with credentials.
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