The Sunday News
Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
FORMER Tsholotsho Rural District Council chief executive officer Mr Ronnie Dube has been appointed Town Clerk of Victoria Falls.
Mr Dube, takes over from Mr Christopher Dube who joined Bulawayo City Council last year in a similar capacity.
In an interview, Mr Dube who has already started work, said among his priority projects was to ensure that the resort town attains city status this year.
“My plans border on my duties as Town Clerk where I have to promote affordable housing, foster good environment management policies, and maintain the town as a heritage site. As a municipality we are aspiring to be a city but there are certain things we should meet first to qualify. These are captured in the projects that we have prioritised,” said Mr Dube.
“One of my thrusts is to look at areas which the council can manage to achieve and by the end of 2017 we should have put an application (for city status).”
He said the process would involve applying to the parent Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing which will then send a commission to assess suitability. Mr Dube said he was working on cost cutting strategies for the municipality with a long term view of removing the burden from ratepayers. He said some of those measures could involve scaling down the workforce through mechanisation like installation of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) system on some properties.
“I am working on strategies to cut costs as I try to identify areas where we can target because we don’t want to overburden ratepayers by levying them when we can also reduce costs internally. One other way I am looking at is stakeholder engagement and participation where we have to reach out to every stakeholder, big and small so they have a buy in in all our projects,” said Mr Dube.
He said he was working on an investment prospectus where the council will soon be calling for interests in different projects, with street lighting, road maintenance and social amenities top of the list.
Mr Dube (49), an astute farmer and businessman, is not new to the Victoria Falls Municipality having served as the town’s first chamber secretary between 2002 and 2005.
He was Tsholotsho CEO from 2005 after leaving Victoria Falls. In 2010 he left to concentrate on his private haulage trucks business and cattle ranching where he owns a farm in West Nicholson in Gwanda District.
Before joining Victoria Falls a month ago, Mr Dube was director of administration and operations in the Sport and Recreation Commission where he was in charge of the recent regional Zone Six Games hosted by the country in Bulawayo.
A former Mzilikazi High School pupil, Mr Dube is a holder of a degree in Political Science and Administration from the University of Zimbabwe. He also holds a human resources management diploma from the Institute of People Management Zimbabwe and a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) from National University of Science and Technology. He said he has enrolled for a PHD with the University of South Africa.
@ncubeleon
