By Flata Kavinga
Assistant Kwekwe District Development Coordinator Thomas Shava has urged the Municipality of Redcliff to intensify development efforts and continue improving service delivery, saying stronger collaboration between the local authority and central government is key to better outcomes for residents.
Speaking during a full council meeting, Shava commended the municipality for progress made in several areas covered under the Minimum Service Delivery Standards (MSDS), including water supply, road maintenance and town beautification.
He said residents had begun acknowledging improvements in water provision, despite the municipality not being the water authority.
“I can see some developments, especially on water. I follow discussions on Redcliff social media platforms and I see citizens appreciating receiving water. It is a sign of the hard work that you are doing,” said Shava.
He also praised ongoing road rehabilitation works and beautification initiatives, describing them as positive steps towards improving the municipality.
However, Shava said there was still room for improvement and encouraged councillors, management and government officials to work together to raise service delivery standards.
“We can do more if we work together as a team. We need to work together, especially the local authority and the ministry,” he said.
Shava said the Ministry would strengthen its monitoring of local authorities, stressing that the exercise was intended to identify gaps and improve performance rather than punish councils.
He said the goal was to help Redcliff improve its standing under the national local authority performance assessment framework.
“Our aim is to identify the gaps and see how best we can fill them so that, as a local authority, we move from the current position to the green category,” he said.
Shava also reminded council that residents would play a direct role in assessing municipal performance through citizen engagement processes, with public feedback contributing to council rankings.
“Part of our ranking will come from the citizens, who shall give marks on council operations. We need to deliver services that satisfy them so that they give council good marks,” he said.
He urged councillors and council officials to keep residents’ interests at the centre of their decision-making and to continue pursuing development initiatives that improve service delivery.
“We need to upscale our quest for development. United we stand, divided we fall,” Shava said.
