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Kwekwe city, one of the country’s fast growing towns, does not have a Government Complex to accommodate Government departments. The different Government ministries are renting offices in different parts of the city thereby inconveniencing members of the public seeking Government services. Some of the Government departments are being accommodated in dilapidated buildings such as the one accommodating Zec, Department of Social Welfare and Messenger of Court.

The District Development Co-ordinator, District Development Fund (DDF), the civil court and registry are all crammed in a dilapidated building that has since been decommissioned because there are fears that the ground could cave in as there are mine tunnels running under the building.

The district public works officer Mr Willard Madamombe told a recent Kwekwe District stakeholders meeting that plans are underway to build a state-of-the-art Government Complex to accommodate Government departments. He said Government has since been allocated land for the construction of the complex by Kwekwe City Council.

Kwekwe City Council

Kwekwe District development co-ordinator Mr Fortune Mpungu said lack of proper offices for Government departments was compromising service delivery. He said due to shortage of offices in the city, some Government departments were operating from Zhombe. “It becomes difficult for my office to co-ordinate critical Government programmes because Government departments which are supposed to be in one place are scattered all over the district,” said Mr Mpungu.

There is therefore, an urgent need for Government to prioritise the construction of a Government Complex in Kwekwe. Government offices are the image of the city and when these departments operate from dilapidated buildings it gives a bad image of the city especially to investors.

Gokwe is a small town but it has a Government Complex accommodating Government departments and Lupane town also has a similar Government Complex which was completed recently.

We are therefore, calling on Government and authorities in Kwekwe to ensure resources are availed as soon as possible for the construction of the planned Government Complex.

Under the Government’s Devolution Policy, priority list of development projects to be implemented in any given area comes from the people and we have no doubt that residents of Kwekwe have put construction of this planned Government Complex on top of their priority list.

It is very inconveniencing for residents of Kwekwe seeking some Government services to travel as far as Zhombe where some Government departments are operating from. We want to once again implore Government to ensure this Government Complex project is allocated resources in the 2023 national budget.