THIS Past weekend
(Sunday 24 February 2013), Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA)
held two consultative meetings at Mpopoma Hall (ward 9) and McDonald’s Hall in Mzilikazi
(ward 8). The meetings were meant to provide platforms for critical debate on
issues of service delivery in the respective wards. The councillors for the
wards were expected at the meetings. For the Mzilikazi meeting however, the councillor
did not manage to attend the meeting. The meeting was thus turned into a
platform for residents to voice their concerns on various issues of service
delivery so that follow up (in the form of advocacy and lobbying) can be done
by the BPRA secretariat. In Mpopoma, the councillor was present and the meeting
progressed as planned with residents engaging with the councillor.
The major issues arising
at the meetings were as follows:
-
Residents
revealed that some tower lights in Mzilikazi were not working, something that
had led to an upsurge in muggings in the area. They called upon the Bulawayo
City Council (BCC) to repair the tower lights with urgency.
-
Residents
expressed concern with the local authority’s billing system arguing that their
bills were inflated. They based their argument on realisations that their bills
had remained at the same levels they were on before the commencement of water
shedding in July 2012.
-
In Mpopoma,
residents called upon the city council to ensure that people who are awarded
tenders to lease out BCC owned shops employ residents from the area. They
argued that this was the only way for the community to benefit from shops that
are located in it due to the fact that residents in the area cannot afford to
lease the shops out themselves.
-
Attendants also
expressed dismay with the state of West Park Cemetery. They said the cemetery
was not well maintained and said there was urgent need for BCC to deploy workers
to maintain the grave site. It was agreed that the BPRA secretariat should pen
a letter to the local authority’s director of health requesting that such maintenance
work be immediately carried out.
-
Youths present
at the meetings bemoaned the fact that the youth clubs in Bulawayo were not
functioning. They said there was urgent need for the clubs to be resuscitated so
that young people can engage their time in useful activities as opposed to
loitering in the streets and shops drinking alcohol. The youth also requested
to be given pieces of land to engage in developmental projects.
-
Residents from
Thokozani Flats in Mzilikazi revealed that they share electricity meters with
their neighbours, a situation that had become problematic since the
installation of prepaid meters. They said it was difficult for two families to
agree on the amounts to spend per month on electricity especially in situations
whereby one household uses more electricity than the other. They called upon
ZESA to address this issue.
-
The issue of
Bulawayo’s water crisis was discussed extensively at both meetings, with
residents reaching a consensus that the onus was on the government and BCC to
increase water supply to the city through completion of the Matabeleland
Zambezi Water Project, building of new dams and through various medium term
strategies such as duplication of the Insiza pipeline and fully harnessing
water from Mtshabezi Dam.
Regards
Information
Department
Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association
Bus.
Tel: +263 9 61196
Cell:
+263 772 516 729
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