The call came after residents said the council was letting them down with broken promises to build more clinics and schools.

GWERU City Council has come under scrutiny for failing to channel financial resources towards the proper delivery of health and education services.

Speaking on the sidelines of a pre-budget sensitization meeting held jointly by the Providers Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (Viset) and the Gweru Residents and Ratepayers Association, Viset chief executive Samuel Wadzai said the council You should plan your finances with the goal of improving the health and education of the city. services.

The call came after residents said the council was letting them down with broken promises to build more clinics and schools.

“Gweru Council’s public finance management system should support the delivery of health and education services. The council proposes to increase consultation costs in local clinics by 100%, but there are no significant changes in the health sector that will contribute to the well-being of residents,” Wadzai said.

“In education, the ratio of teachers to students in municipal schools is shocking, since one teacher can serve 70 students at a time. There is hot-sitting in schools. Therefore, the Council must be attentive to these critical issues and not focus solely on raising money.”

He said the council should make the best use of its resources and use finances in line with citizens’ expectations to provide public health and education services.

In the 2025 budget, city council proposed increasing consultation fees at local clinics from $5.20 to $10.

However, residents said that instead of increasing fees, the council should focus on renovating the Mkoba 1 clinic to offer maternity services.

Only the Mkoba Polyclinic offers maternal health services to the populous suburbs of Mkoba.

The other clinic that offers this type of services is Mtapa.

However, in his presentation at a recent budget consultation meeting, deputy finance director Owen Masimba said the council had identified land in Mkoba18 to build a clinic.

He said the council had initially planned to convert the Mkoba 18 bar into a clinic, but the plan had stalled.

Masimba said plans to convert the Mkoba 4 factory into a satellite school had also failed, but noted that the council had identified another site to build a new school.

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