Gweru Councillor Looks Beyond Narrow Party Politics

Tsanyawo and two other councillors from Gweru attended a two day workshop facilitated by ZDDT and said that before the workshop he was far from being professionally engaged with his ward community.

He also revealed that he was operating on political lines, using his party polices at the expense of the community.

“To tell the truth, I rose to be a Councillor through my political party and my attitude was only to assist people from my stable. ZDDT has opened my mind and I am now a Leader with unlimited frame of mind,” said Tsanyawo.

He also added that, from the day he left Bulawayo after the workshop, he is a changed man who can now accommodate people of different political affiliation from his ward.

“I have learnt that people are far greater than politics and that political activism must not combine with professional office work like local government, as our community look up to us to serve them. ZDDT taught me to become a good leader beyond a political mind-set.”

Tsanyawo also recounted to ZDDT News of how poor communication hindered his Ward.

This was before attending ZDDT’s Conflict Management skills workshop where he learnt the importance of delegation of duties and sharing of ideas.

He also said that he learnt from the workshop that as a Councillor, he serves Gweru ratepayers, not his political party, since it (Political Party) doesn’t pay rates but the community does.”

The excited Councillor appealed to ZDDT to bring its leadership and life moulding workshops to Gweru and also that the organisation must extend its hand to Councillors to develop them into good community leaders.

Asked for comment on this development, ZDDT’s Regional Coordinator Angela Mason said, “I agree with what the Councillor said because, all too often, Councillors do not take information back to their communities. So, if CSOs are capacity building the people as well as Councillors, the leader and the community will work better together because they have common information...”

Tsanyawo concluded that currently, he is sharing ideas with the community in his ward regardless of political affiliation and that it is working well.