Stephen Chadenga
Gweru City Council has commended the partnership it has with City Parking saying it not only contributed to the acquisition of critical service delivery equipment but creation of employment in the city.
Mayor Martin Chivhoko said Gweru City Parking had employed youths who could have been ideal roaming the streets.
He was speaking to The Blast in Gweru on the sidelines of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions central region Workers’Day commemorations.
“Besides ring fencing funds we get from Gweru City Parking and buying yellow machines essential for enhancing service delivery we have seen our youths getting employed by the Gweru City Parking,”said Chivhoko.
“So as we commemorate Workers’ Day we want to applaud the parking management company for taking some of our youths from the streets and employing them.
“We have seen ideal youths engaging in all sorts of vices including the rampant drug and substance abuse and so giving them jobs and keeping them occupied will help address this.”
ZCTU vice president Valentine Chikosi said the labour body welcomed any public-private partnerships that advance the interests of workers.
“If such partnerships create jobs and advance the interests of workers it’s a plus for us,”he said.
In 2021 council entered into a partnership with Gweru City Parking for the latter to manage car parking in the city.
Previously residents had complained that the manual system used by council was open to abuse with employees taking advantage of loopholes to loot funds.