Chigora, who won the council elections on an MDC-T ticket, promised to fight poverty in his ward through initiating numerous projects, particularly for women and young people. One of the projects was an innovative way of growing potatoes, using discarded sacks.
“I have sourced potato seed and helped in training 100 women to grow potatoes in sacks. This project has really transformed the lives of these women as they are now able to grow potatoes for both home consumption and selling,” said Chigora in an interview with The Zimbabwean.
Chigora said since he initiated the project last year, a lot of women were making inquiries about this lucrative project.
“More and more people are interested in the project. Some are even asking us to provide enough land for the project, but my challenge is the financial constraints. I need to source money to buy the seed as well as provide training for the farmers,” said Chigora.
The councilor said the ward, which mainly encompasses low-density suburbs such as Waterford, Selborne Park, Riverside and Woodlands is home to many poor and vulnerable residents.
“My ward is badly affected by the closure of companies. The ward also has a lot of domestic workers who are struggling to make a living,” he said.
Chigora has also helped mobilise the residents to cut grass on roadsides and repair damaged roads in the area.
“The overgrown grass obstructs motorists’ view, and most of the roads in the ward are no longer usable. Residents are exposed to mugging and robberies at night because commuter bus operators are now dropping commuters very far from their destinations because of the bad roads,” said Chigora.
Jonh Dube, the residents’ association chair praised Chigora for taking a leading role in addressing real issues.
“I would like to commend the councillor for always inquiring about residents’ problems. Recently, we had a stakeholders meeting on the state of the roads in the ward. During the meeting, the councillor assured us that he was going to ensure that the ward would benefit from the council’s road rehabilitation programme,” said Dube.
Chigora said he wants to hold monthly feedback meetings with residents, but is struggling to find a venue.
“There isn’t a single public hall in the ward. At times we hold our meetings in the open, but that’s difficult in the rainy season. During my tenure, I will also try to push for the construction of at least one council hall in the area,” he said, adding that he would also fight for a new clinic.
“It pains me that residents continue to walk for 13km to the nearest clinic to receive medical services when a piece of land earmarked for a clinic in the ward is lying idle. That clinic should be built as a matter of urgency,” he said.
He urged residents to pay their bills to council to ensure that quality services could be provided.
“The government’s debt cancellation directive has really affected council coffers. Before the directive, council was collecting about $6m a month, but now the council is collecting as little as $2m. The council is now in a dilemma because some residents who benefited from this political directive are refusing to pay in anticipation of another cancellation during the election of 2018,” he added.
Post published in: News