The Sunday News
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Gwanda Correspondent
GWANDA Municipality is set to use part of the money it received for devolution to improve water infrastructure in the town before the end of the year.
Some areas in the suburb go for a week without water while some residents in Ward 5 have been living without water connections and sewer systems for the past 10 years.
Speaking during a Gwanda devolution meeting organised by the Community Youth Development Trust (CYDT) Gwanda Mayor, Councillor Jastone Mazhale said they had since received $1 566 000 under the devolution programme and the bulk of the money had gone towards water and sanitation programmes. He said their main challenge was that the tanks were situated on low ground which made it difficult to supply water.
“The devolution fund is used within the framework of last year’s budget and the supplementary budget. That is to say that the projects that we had listed down in our budget are the projects that we are pursuing using the devolution fund. When we receive the funds, we identify in our list of projects what is of priority and direct the funds there.
“As a municipality we first received $66 000 and later received $1,5 million under the devolution fund and most of it went towards completion of the five mega-litre water reservoir. Part of the money was used to build a classroom block at Hlalani Kuhle Primary School and installing pre-paid water meters. Water and sewer services are our main priority under the devolution programme. This year we want to address all water challenges and ensure that all suburbs have undisrupted water supply before we move to other areas of service delivery,” he said.
Clr Mazhale said once they received the next allocation under the devolution programme most of the money will be directed towards water provision. He said they have planned to improve water infrastructure by replacing old pipes as they would not be able to withstand the pressure once the new reservoir is in use.
“The areas which are most affected by water are Ward 5 and 6. We have the water in the dams but we are unable to get it to the people as our tanks are on low ground. Once the reservoir is complete, we will be able to supply the entire town with water as it is on high ground. There are some areas where people were settled in areas that were not serviced and hence, they don’t have water supply and sewer systems. These are the problems we want to address with this fund,” he said.
Speaking during the meeting CYDT director, Ms Sichasisile Ndlovu said they had organised the meeting in order to create a platform where youths could meet with the leadership on issues of service delivery.
He said Government introduced the devolution programme and a certain amount was allocated to Gwanda therefore youths were also entitled to make contributions on how the funds could be used to improve issues of service delivery.
Ms Ndlovu said if properly engaged by the leadership, youths could make significant contributions towards development issues. She said the meeting was a platform for youths to interact with leaders on devolution issues.
Youths who spoke during the meeting said they expected a certain amount of the devolution fund to be allocated towards youth empowerment projects, health and sanitation services for women and towards the fight against gender-based violence. @DubeMatutu
