BCC swears in councillors

BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) is today set to hold a swearing-in ceremony for newly elected councillors, marking the official assumption of duty as representatives of the electorate.

After taking the oath of office, the councillors will then caucus to set a date to choose a mayor and deputy mayor for the city.

The swearing-in ceremony is expected to start at 9AM at the council chambers with the town clerk Mr Christopher Dube expected to preside over proceedings.

Bulawayo has 29 council wards, which were all won by CCC.

The councillors were elected during last month’s harmonised elections.

BCC corporate communications officer Ms Bongiwe Ngwenya confirmed the development.

“The swearing-in of the recently elected City of Bulawayo councilors will be held on Wednesday, 6 September 2023 at 9 AM hours in the Council Chamber, City Hall Municipal Building,” said Ms Ngwenya.

In a statement, the director of communications in the Ministry of Local Government and Public Work said an induction training will be conducted for the elected councillors after they are sworn-in.

“The Ministry is rolling out the first phase of the induction for training for councillors from 7 September. The induction is expected to be concluded within 14 days. In the meantime, councils can swear-in councillors in their respective local authorities in terms of Section 47 and 30 of the Urban Councils Act and the Rural District Councils Acts respectively,” he said.

Mr Masvora said other councils will work on the logistics of when they will conduct the swearing-in ceremonies of their councillors following the green light from the Government.

Bulawayo residents have outlined seven critical areas that incoming councillors should attend to, with the main bone of contention being the city’s perennial water challenges.

The new councillors come at a time when Bulawayo has become a pale shadow of its former self and is facing problems such as water supply shortages, illegal dumping of refuse, poor roads, and uncontrolled vending.

The chaos in the city centre is unparalleled as illegal vendors have invaded some of the streets, affecting the smooth running of formal business. The delays in completing the US$60 million Egodini Mall and

Taxi Rank is one of the top council failures.

Litter has become the order of the day while some parts of the city have been heavily congested in a clear demonstration of a council that has lost control of the affairs of the city.

Bulawayo residents have said the incoming councillors should restore public confidence by improving service delivery.

In a statement, the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) said the incoming councillors should align the city’s development agenda to the Government’s economic blueprint, the National Development Strategy 1 (2021-2025).

It said the election of new councillors should bring new ideas in shaping the city’s development trajectory.

“BPRA, thus believes that as we work towards addressing the deplorable state of service provision in the City of Bulawayo and drive the City of Bulawayo to become a leading, smart and transformative city, the following issues need to be taken with a high level of seriousness, particularly by the newly elected officials,” read the statement.

“Bulawayo has perennial water challenges that can only be dealt with under the stewardship of innovative and critically thinking leaders who will look into solving these hurdles through short-and long-term smart solutions,” reads the statement.

“BPRA calls for clear short and long-term plans, which will mainstream issues of climate change.”

BPRA said residents need to be briefed on the accurate status with regard to the construction of the Egodini Mall project.

The association said the incoming councillors need to present solutions on waste management and address sewer bursts in most western suburbs.

BPRA also called the new councillors to come up with strategies that will result in an effective refuse collection system that will restore the city to its former glory as the cleanest city in southern Africa.

It said the council needs to address the thorny issue of estimated bills, which BPRA said could be contributing to some of the residents not paying bills.

BPRA said BCC should make its public procurement processes transparent and weed out alleged corruption while harnessing opportunities that come through public-private partnerships.

The organisation said developing alternative revenue streams is critical in lessening the burden of residents while urging council to be transparent with its budget systems and ensure that they are gender sensitive.