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Nyore Madzianike
IMPROVED service delivery by the City of Mutare is still far from being achieved as it emerged that council is using only two refuse trucks to college garbage. Its fleet is currently down with no hope of repairing them any time soon.

This emerged during a full council meeting held last week, where some councillors suggested that the City of Mutare write to the Minister of Public Works and Housing Development for permission to order new trucks from South Africa.

Mutare town planner Mr Richard Simbi confirmed that council was using two trucks. Mr Simbi said out of the two trucks, one of them constantly had some mechanical problems.

“We are currently using two refuse trucks. We were supposed to have three on the road, but we have only two. Out of the two, one is giving us problems,” he said. Mutare Ward 13 Councillor Mr Wellington Zambezi said it was cheaper for council to buy new vehicles from South Africa. Cllr Zambezi said it was costing City of Mutare a lot of money in trying to repair and maintain the old trucks that were servicing the town.

“I propose that we write to the Minister (Public Works and Housing Development), asking for permission to buy new engines from South Africa. We need to appeal to the minister and tell him we want to go to South Africa to buy engines.

“If we calculate the money that we are using to repair these trucks, you will realise it is cheaper to buy from South Africa,” he said. City of Mutare chamber secretary Mr Cephas Vuta said they were still discussing the matter as management. Mr Vuta said they would want to check on whether there are cheaper alternatives that could be found locally.

“We will discuss the matter. We are trying to see whether there are local suppliers who might have the engines,” he said.