Council Intent on Delivering on Its Mandate

The City of Masvingo held an eight-day by-law drafting and training workshop from the 12th to the 19th of February 2023 whose principal objective was to train participants to draft by-laws as they are the basis for the Council operations as well as regulation of activities in the city as enunciated in the Urban Councils Act, and the City’s Vision of becoming an industrialized world class metropolitan city by 2030.

Speaking on the last day of the workshop, the City of Masvingo Town Clerk, Eng. Edward Mukaratirwa, said it was vital for Council, which is subordinate to the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, to deliver on its core mandate of service delivery, developing cities and above all advising the Minister on all local governance matters.

He further underscored the need for residents to abide by the set by-laws to ensure that there is law and order in the area under the Council’s jurisdiction.

“ We must deliver on what the Urban Councils Act says we must deliver, and we must also be guided by the by-laws we are formulating and reviewing to ensure that there is law and order in our city if we are to achieve our vision 2030 of becoming an an industrialized world class metropolitan city’, said Eng. Edward Mukaratirwa.

After everything was done and dusted, the technical team managed to draft 23 by-laws adding to the 18 which were formulated in the last quarter of 2022.

The by-laws drafting and training workshop comes shortly after Council’s 2023 budget was approved by the Minister of Local Government and Public Works. According to the Minister, every budget should have a by-laws which support revenue collection proposed in the budget.

City of Masvingo’s budget came out best out of the 92 local authorities because it had the exact format approved by the ministry as it was supported by the by-laws.