GOVERNMENT has applauded opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC)-led Ruwa Local Board for being corrupt free.
The Ruwa Local Board does not have any pending cases before the courts. All its nine councillors are from the CCC party led by Nelson Chamisa.
Over the weekend, Harare Metropolitan provincial secretary Tafadzwa Muguti (pictured) lauded the Ruwa Local Board for grabbing three awards at the inaugural Harare Metropolitan provincial awards, which honoured residents, businesspersons and people who excelled in the fields of arts, sports and others in 2022.
Ruwa Town Council bagged three awards for best Harare Metropolitan Council, its mayor Kizito Chivafa was honoured as best mayor, and the board also got the top investment award.
Ruwa competed with Harare City Council, Chitungwiza City Council and Epworth Local Board.
Addressing stakeholders at the awards ceremony, Muguti said Ruwa had created thousands of jobs and had become a safe haven for investors.
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“Two years ago l called all town clerks and mayors into one room and l explained the main areas to get development, and one of the major issues was to attract investment. In a space of two years, Ruwa has attracted US$40 million investments, has zero corruption cases before the courts, had a budget for roads, and did what other councils have failed to do — fixing roads for investments.
“Ruwa has created over a thousand jobs, the mayor is very young and they have nine councillors. We want the other three local authorities to challenge the Ruwa Local Board,” Muguti added.
Speaking to NewsDay, Ruwa Local Board town secretary Kumbirai Madanhi said: “It is hard to put this feeling into words. Nevertheless we are very ecstatic and glad that our hardwork and resilience has put us above the rest. We believe in zero tolerance to corruption and have emphasised daily to our councillors, management and operatives that all and sundry must comply with the legislative framework.”
Chivafa said: “I always encourage due diligence and transparency among us. Our stakeholders are the most important sector, hence the need to satisfy them, and it has to be driven by passion, constant internal audits and yearly external audits help us to restrain from corruption.” Zanu PF ward 21 councillor for Mabvuku, Scott Sakupwanya was voted as Councillor of The Year.
Muguti said Sakupwanya had changed the face of Mabvuku.
“Many people are wondering how Sakupwanya won the award. Mabvuku was one of the dirtiest places and a councillor went there and bought refuse compactors. He has been drilling boreholes using his own funds. We want to encourage people to start to know their councillors. We need to hold them to account,” he said.