The call came after residents said the council was misleading them by promising to build more clinics and schools but failing to deliver.

GWERU Municipal Council has come under scrutiny for failing to channel financial resources towards adequate provision of health and education services.

Speaking on the sidelines of a pre-budget awareness meeting jointly organized by Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (Viset) and Gweru Residents and Ratepayers Association, Viset executive director Samuel Wadzai said the council should plan its finances with a view to improving the health and education of the city. services.

The call came after residents said the council was misleading them by promising to build more clinics and schools but failing to deliver.

“Gweru council’s public financial management system should support the delivery of health and education services. The council is proposing to increase consultation fees at local clinics by 100%, but there are no significant changes in the health sector contributing to the well-being of residents,” Wadzai said.

“In the field of education, the teacher/student ratio in municipal schools is shocking because we see that one teacher can take care of 70 students at a time. There is hot-sitting in schools. The Council must therefore pay attention to these crucial issues and not just focus 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, the council proposed increasing consultation fees at local clinics from US$5.20 to US$10.

Residents, however, said that instead of increasing rates, the council should focus on renovating the Mkoba 1 clinic so that it offers maternity services.

Only the Mkoba Polyclinic provides maternal health services in the populated suburbs of Mkoba.

The other clinic that offers such services is Mtapa.

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

He said the council had initially planned to turn the Mkoba 18 off-sales bar into a clinic, but the project had stalled.

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

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