Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo has conferred town status to Murambinda Growth Point, located in Buhera District, Manicaland Province.
Buhera District had been pushing for Murambinda centre, a settlement of about 15 000 people, to be granted town status since around 2007.
Moyo notified Buhera Rural District Council chairperson, Ngoni Musakaruka of the settlement’s new status recently. He wrote:
In terms of section 57 of the Rural District Councils Act [Chapter 29:13], I hereby appoint a Murambinda Centre Town Board Committee.
The committee will be responsible for managing and leading development in Murambinda Centre.
By copy of this minute, I also appoint the same team that did the assessments to assist the local authority to operationalise the Town Board Committee.
Buhera Rural District Council will bear the full costs of the team using the Government Travel and Subsistence rates and fees set out in the relevant Ministry Circular together with the provision of fuel.
Moyo said that the exercise must be completed within 10 days and a report must be submitted to him afterwards.
Musakaruka on Wednesday confirmed the developments in an interview with NewZimbabwe.com. He said:
We are waiting for a national staff team from [the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works] to descend here and deliberate on the issue.
After that, the board will then sit and deliberate so that the Murambinda Town Board will start to operate by June.