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Vusumuzi Dube, Senior Municipal Reporter
ALDERMEN in Bulawayo have demanded that the Bulawayo City Council pays them an allowance as part of their pension benefits and further called on the local authority to give them 50 percent rebate on rates and rentals, it has been learnt.
According to the Urban Councils Act an alderman is a councillor who would have served the local authority for eight years for mayors and 10 years for councillors.
In the latest development, according to a council confidential report, the aldermen through their chairperson, Ald Phinias Ndlovu have written to the local authority demanding that they get a monthly pension payout of 50 percent of sitting councillors’ allowances, among a cocktail of other demands.
An ordinary councillor is getting an allowance of $780 monthly. However, this will be against a Government provision that stipulates that councillors are not liable to a pension or golden handshake once they leave office.
“I wish to submit our request as follows; allowance continuation (pension) of 50 percent, 50 percent relief on rates and water, free access at municipal clinics, half spouse support for funeral similar to aldermen, free parking discs and we also request that council comes up with code on how to work,” reads the letter from Ald Ndlovu.
The request was however, turned down by the local authority’s executive leadership who argued that it was against council and Government policy and was also going to set a wrong precedent among former councillors, who would start demanding similar benefits.
The directors, however, supported the issuance of free parking discs depending on the number of the aldermen.
“The facility on parking discs exists for serving members, depending on the numbers, the facility can be extended to the aldermen. Departments of Health and Finance are better placed to comment,” noted the acting Director of Human Capital, Mr Makhosi Tshalebwa.
Bongani Ndlovu