His Worship, Mayor Cllr Lovemore Maiko poses for a photo with his deputy Mayor, Cllr Jerita Mutingwende soon after their election.
Ward 7 Councillor, Lovemore Maiko was elected as the Mayor of the Municipality of Chitungwiza, while Ward 12 Councillor, Jerita Mutingwende will be deputising him.
The two were elected into office at a colourful ceremony officiated by the Secretary for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Harare Metropolitan Province, Mr Tafadzwa Muguti at the Council’s Head Office.
In his speech, Councillor Maiko said he was humbly honoured to take the high office.
“I accept this with a huge sense of responsibility and the agency of leadership in delivering quality service to the residents of our Municipality.
“We owe the residents and we are in a huge debt to them. The Municipality is called upon to spend and be spent for the service of this town and its residents. No acceptable excuse for poor service, let alone for non-service in this 21st century era.”
Mayor Maiko also promised to fight corruption in the Municipality.
“Conscious of the deliberating impact of corruption on gender (women) and service delivery across the board, the office of the Mayor being the chief servant of the Municipality, will do everything to contribute towards busting and eradicating the vice in our society’’, he pointed out.
“Our tenure of office too shall be characterized by the extent we go in checkmating and repelling all forms of corruption’’.
“Together and through the office of the Mayor, we shall foster a residents and stakeholders’ participatory approach on the way the Municipality carries out its mandate. For example, the Municipality budget should be the budget of all stakeholders, by all stakeholders and for all stakeholders.”
He said the Council should be for the residents and equally other stakeholders.
“In a way, it is somewhat an ecosystem and inter-dependence philosophy that breathes life into it and it dovetails with our Pan-African philosophy of Ubuntu- ‘I am because you are, and you are because I am; period’.
“Our approach is quite simple, but by and large, inarguably very important. We go back to the basics. Others may term it ‘Build Back Better’. Residents and business organizations in Chitungwiza have waited far too long for a working or functional Municipality and as a Council, we must be the correct and appropriate answer to that prayer.”
Speaking after her election as the Deputy Mayor, Cllr Mutingwende dedicated her elevation to the Almighty promising to deal with some social ills that have adversely impacted the lives of youths in Chitungwiza.
‘’As the Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of Chitungwiza, my main focus will be on early child marriages, drug and substance abuse, gender-based violence, and service delivery.
“I would also like to deal with the issue of water whereby we do not have to see people carrying buckets of the precious liquid on their heads every day and also fixing our roads,” she said.
