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| Residents follow proceedings at a consultative meeting held at Mgiqika Primary School in Nketa on Sunday 17 Februury 2013 |
ON
Sunday this past weekend (17 February 2013), Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association
(BPRA) held two consultative meetings in Emgawini (ward 26) and Nketa (ward 25).
The meetings provided platforms for residents to engage with their respective
councillors (Clrs Norman Hlabana and Edward Ndlovu) on pertinent issues of
service delivery and local governance. The meeting in Nketa was also attended
by the Senator for the area, Senator Siphiwe Ncube and representatives of
Tshova Mubaiwa to discuss transport issues.
The
major issues discussed at the meetings included:
- The water
situation in Bulawayo – The councillor for ward 26, Norman
Hlabana, told residents that water
levels at the city’s dams now stand at 72 percent of capacity. He informed
residents that due to this, the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) had reduced water
shedding from 96n hours a week to 72 hours a week. In both meetings, the councillors
informed residents that the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) would
be connecting electricity to the pumps at the Mtshabezi Dam pipeline as the diesel
generators had been unable to pump sufficient volumes of water. Meanwhile,
residents expressed concerns with BCC’s water billing system, arguing that it
was faulty and needed to be looked into. They said they felt that their bills
were inflated as they were getting high bills despite the fact that they do not
use much water due to water shedding.
- Housing – The
councillors informed residents that BCC would be transferring ownership of all
local authority owned houses to residents subject to payment of unspecified
amounts of money at a discount. Residents from suburbs such as Iminyela and
Pelandaba have previously demanded ownership of houses they have been occupying
for many decades. More recently, residents of Millennium Housing in Emganwini
staged a demonstration against BCC demanding ownership of the houses they live
in. Bulawayo has a long standing housing problem, with thousands of residents
on a waiting list to access housing stands.
Education – In
Emganwini, residents expressed concerns that schools were too few to cater for
the growing population. Calls were made for the government and BCC to build
more schools to ensure that the quality of education in the area does not
plummet any further. Concerns were also raised that school authorities and
School Development Associations (SDAs) were colluding to increase school fees
without consultation of the majority of parents, who often cannot afford the
fees and end up having their children illegally denied access to classes for
non-payment of fees.
- BCC Social Welfare
– Residents
also called for BCC to revive its social welfare programme, which they said was
imperative in light of the high levels of poverty prevailing in the city.
Regards
Information Department
Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association
Bus. Tel: +263 9 61196
Cell: +263 772 516 729
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