EDWIN MOYO
GWERU-Gweru Residents and Ratepayers Association (GRRA) recently conducted a capacity building training workshop for ward development committees.
GRRA director, Cornelia Selipiwe said the idea behind the training was to equip members of the committees with the requisite knowledge and skills to execute their duties.
Selipiwe further said the training was done after the realization that ward committees were a vehicle for development and were being left out in most capacity building trainings.
“The tendency is that, when councillors get elected, mostly incorporate their friends into the ward development committees but councillors go for induction and the ward development committees remain a grey area.
“So we felt that as a team that works closely with the councillors, the ward development committees also need training. The reason why we have conducted the training is to equip the committees with basic information of what is expected of them,” he added
Selipiwe said his organisation would soon partner with a local university to also capacitate councillors in order to improve service delivery in the city.
“We are not only expecting results from the wards but we are going to upscale the trainings as we have engaged our local university to conduct a six week training with the councillors in the near future,” he added.
Mkoba 13 Ward committee member, Moses Muzondiwa, said the move by GRRA was good and eye opening to the residents as it was educative.
“We had fruitful engagement, I got to understand a lot of things and areas we need to work on as a committee to improve our community,” he said.
Former Gweru Councillor, Alderman Sithole said it was important for committees to know the roles of councillors to better compliment them.
“We need to understand the roles of councillors, because it’s not the role of a councillor to sponsor funerals.
“Ward Committees are therefore advised to know how their councillors operate are therefore advised to work hand in hand with them and whenever they need assistance” he said.
