GWERU City Council has come under scrutiny for failing to channel financial resources towards adequate provision of health and education services.
Speaking on the sidelines of a pre-budget sensitisation meeting jointly held by Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (Viset) and Gweru Residents and Ratepayers Association, Viset executive director Samuel Wadzai said council should plan its finances aiming to improve the city’s health and education services.
The call came after residents indicated that council was short-changing them through unfulfilled promises of building more clinics and schools.
“Gweru council’s public finance management system should support health and education service provision. Council is proposing to hike consultation fees at local clinics by 100% yet there are no significant changes in the health sector contributing to the welfare of residents,” Wadzai said.
“In education, the teacher to pupil ratio at council schools is shocking as you find that a teacher can attend to 70 students at a time. There is hot-sitting at schools. Council, therefore, needs to be attentive to these critical issues and not just focus on collecting money.”
He said the council should make best use of its resources and utilise finances in line with citizens’ expectations to provide public health and education services.
In the 2025 budget, council proposed to hike consultation fees at local clinics from US$5,20 to US$10.
Residents, however, said instead of increasing the fees, the council should focus on refurbishing Mkoba 1 Clinic so that it offers maternity services.
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Only Mkoba Polyclinic offers maternal health services to the populous Mkoba suburbs.
The other clinic that offers such services is Mtapa.
In his presentation at a recent budget consultation meeting, assistant finance director Owen Masimba, however, said council had identified a piece of land in Mkoba18 to build a clinic.
He said council had initially planned to turn Mkoba 18 off-sale bar into a clinic, but the plan had stalled.
Masimba said plans to turn Mkoba 4 factory shells into a satellite school had also failed, but noted that council had identified another site to build a new school.
