BPRA to hold Service Delivery Conference

Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) will on 11 September this year hold a Service Delivery Conference, to run under the theme “the right to know,” that will give residents an opportunity to engage with service providers from different sectors. The conference, which will be attended by two thousand residents’ leaders from all of Bulawayo’s twenty-nine wards, will give residents a platform to engage with representatives from Telone, the Bulawayo City Council (BCC), the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) and the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP). At the same time, it will give the service providers an opportunity to update the residents of Bulawayo on what efforts their organisations are making to improve service delivery and the livelihood of the people of Bulawayo.

The conference, which will take place at the International Trade Fair (ZITF) Hall 2 from 0830 hrs to 1630hrs, will place emphasis on plenary sessions that will allow residents to put the service providers to task in line with BPRA’s belief in promoting accountability and participatory local governance. This will be the first time that ordinary residents of Bulawayo will get an opportunity to critically engage with service providers on such a scale.

The conference comes at a time residents have expressed displeasure with the operations of most of the service providers that have been invited. ZESA continues to top the list as residents are appalled by the rampant load shedding by the parastal and the exorbitant tariffs that it is charging. Concerns have also been raised with the fact that the power utility continues to ignore a ruling by the Competition and Tariffs Commission (CTC) that electricity charges be reduced by 43 percent. With regards to BCC, residents have in the past complained about failure by the city fathers to provide affordable housing for the people of Bulawayo. Other areas of concern with the city council include disconnection of water for residents with outstanding rates and the deterioration of standards at city council clinics. With regards to the ZRP, the major concern of residents has been rampant corruption that has in many instances led to the police failing to be the custodians of peace in communities as they accept bribes as opposed to letting the law take its course. Telone on the other hand will have to explain its billing system as residents do not understand how they accrued high rates following the introduction of the multi-currency regime in February 2011. At the conference, the service providers are expected to address these issues and update the residents on other projects that they are undergoing in order to improve their services.

Last year, BPRA hosted a similar conference, which was dubbed the Social Accountability Conference. The Social Accountability Conference brought cabinet ministers from the Matabeleland region - Ministers David Coltart, Samuel Sipepa Nkomo, Moses Mzila Ndlovu and Gorden Moyo - to give feedback to residents on pertinent governmental issues. BPRA holds such conferences as part of its mandate to improve the livelihood of the people of Bulawayo through fostering resident’s participation in local governance and service delivery and through promoting a culture of transparency and accountability in the operations of holders of public office.