Chronicle Editor
Vusumuzi Dube, Zimbabwe Elections Desk
FIVE years have gone by since the 2018 elections and in the next two months, Zimbabwe will conduct polls to choose leaders for the next five years.
The election season always brings excitement to many and at the same time, it is a moment of introspection or stock-taking about successes or failures by those entrusted with responsibility.
How would you evaluate the situation in Bulawayo under the opposition-run city council? Has there been any difference in terms of service delivery to the ratepayers or this has just been a wasted tenure?
Indeed, a number of things have happened since the swearing-in of the outgoing councillors as they prepare to exit the council chambers, and we take keen interest in assessing some of their major highlights.
A chaotic start
The swearing-in ceremony itself turned out to be a ruckus affair, as already the less-than-month-old council had simmering tensions regarding the mayor and deputy mayor positions.
While for mayor a majority were backing Nelson Chamisa-backed Councillor Solomon Mguni, it was for the deputy mayor position where the councillors were divided between former Ward Three Councillor, Tinashe Kambarami, and Ward One Councillor, Mlandu Ncube.
Although Kambarami would eventually win the councillors’ vote this was the beginning of a rather tiring back and forth tussle between the two, which involved court rulings, party recalls and more court rulings.
As their term comes to an end, it has seen Clr Ncube occupying the deputy mayor position while ward three residents have had to endure close to two years without any representation, serve for a “caretaker councillor”.
It is disappointing that the Citizens Coalition for Change, who most of the Bulawayo councillors belong to, does not learn from their past mistakes and has already started brewing a recipe for disaster after they claimed that they have already identified former Education Minister David Coltart and Mr Dumisani Nkomo, formerly with Habakkuk for the mayor and deputy mayor positions, even before election day.
Ironically the two were beaten in the earlier stages of the party’s nomination process, in their respective wards, bringing the likelihood that the two might be imposed against the will of party members.
The actual ceremony degenerated into chaos with activists who were following proceedings from the public gallery, baying for the blood of one of the councillors who took his oath of office in a drunken stupor.
So violent were the activists that one of them slapped Ward 24 Councillor, Arnold Batirai, who was not only drunk but came in late, well after all the other councillors had made their oaths.
All these events should have surely proved as a warning that the next five years were going to take the route that was embarked on, on August 31, 2018.
As the terms of the current crop of councillors come to an end we will explore a few of the ups and downs experienced in the past five years at the council chambers.
The Egodini scam
If the 29 Bulawayo councillors are to be judged by history, it is the fake dream they sold Bulawayo residents regarding the rehabilitation of Egodini Bus Terminus.
Yes, they took over the project from the previous councillors but as soon as they took over office, they vowed that the project would be finished within their term in office.
Five years later, with the continued delay in the completion of the Egodini Bus Terminus project, it could soon spill into the courts after it emerged the local authority has since taken the legal route as the South Africa-based contractor, Terracotta Trading Private Limited, has seemingly disappeared, ignoring any enquiries from the local authority.
A recent visit to the site revealed that the project has since grounded to a halt, with not a single worker on site, while the company offices on site where closed. Shrubs and grass have started to grow on the site, a sign that there has not been much construction activity taking place.
There are open trenches for the installation of fire hydrants and electricals, the bus rank has not been paved, bus sheds have not been roofed and the single ablution facility block is at window level.
This is a far cry from the modern complex residents were promised in the beginning, with all sorts of graphic impressions being shared with the public.
Meanwhile, as Terracotta continues to dodge council, chaos continues to reign supreme in the central business district with commuter omnibuses and informal traders turning every street corner into operation zones.
Roads and the ”rejection” of ERRP
In a classic case of biting the hand that feeds you, councillors in February this year passed a shocking resolution where they intended to reject the Government-funded Emergency Roads Rehabilitation.
The councillors, in fact went on to declare their intentions to sue Zinara, claiming the roads authority had failed to keep its promise to disburse funds for roads, adding that it was now time to take action.
This came despite Zinara disbursing about $12 billion to local authorities across the country for road maintenance and rehabilitation in 2022 under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP).
The allocation for the year 2022 was $288 million, the department of engineering services intends to spend 70 percent ($202 million) of the allocation on periodic maintenance works that is reconstruction, overlays and reseals and the remaining 30 percent ($86 million) on routine maintenance that is pothole patching, crack sealing and slurry sealing.
In a tacit admission of lack of capacity, the Bulawayo City Council has been saying that over 75 percent of its road network was in need of urgent rehabilitation at a cost of US$700 million, a situation which saw Government rolling up its sleeves and extending a hand through the President Mnangagwa initiated nationwide ERRP.
The vending, touting chaos
It is no secret that the local authority, led by its policymakers, the councillors, have failed in managing vending and the general environs of the city.
This is all part of the ripple effect from the “Egodini scam”. The city’s CBD has fast degenerated into a mess right in the eyes of the ”City fathers”.
So bad is the situation that the local authority themselves identified 43 waste hotspots in the CBD, leaving the local authority in a quandary and risking sanctions from the Environmental Management Agency (EMA).
Sixth Avenue between Herbert Chitepo and Lobengula Street has become a nightmare with kombis and vendors literary taking over the street.
Almost every sanitary lane in the CBD have also become an eyesore with heaps of litter being the order of the day, despite the local authority introducing what they term “night time collection of refuse”.
It is just a miracle that the city is yet to record a case of cholera.
To further prove the current crop of councillors’ confusion, after passing a resolution at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic banning the weekly Khothama flea market at City Hall and the Revenue Hall, and vowing never to return it, just last week the local authority passed a resolution where they are now considering reintroducing it — if that is not confusion then what is?
The disconnect with residents
Residents are the key stakeholders within any local authority. In fact without residents the local authority becomes dysfunctional and is just a train wreck waiting to happen.
So as to get an idea of the relationship the councillors had with their residents, this reporter engaged resident association leaders to have a say on this and other issues raised earlier in this article.
Bulawayo United Residents’ Association (Bura) chairperson, Mr Winos Dube said as residents they were largely disappointed by the manner in which councillors conducted themselves in the last five years.
He revealed they had found it difficult working with the councillors with a majority of them barring some of the Bura meetings forcing the residents to meet at open spaces after the councillors refused to avail halls and other facilities for the holding of the meetings.
“Our structures have failed to hold key residents’ meetings because councillors were selective in terms of how they engaged the residents. Halls would not be availed to our structures yet it is known that when such resident meetings are convened, councillors just have to write a letter to council so that the halls are availed. However, this was not the case as residents were forced to meet in churches or open spaces,” said Mr Dube.
Regarding the performance of the councillors, the Bura chairperson revealed that not only were they disappointed they were sad that instead of going forward the past five years were a backward experience for the city.
“Just look at Egodini for example, yes, they can argue that they inherited the project but what did they do when they inherited it? Nothing at all. This has resulted in a whole lot more ills like vending and touting crisis in the city.
“As residents we expected them to perform, not to become crybabies but they chose to be the latter. Look at our roads, they are now untrafficable, we still talk of perennial water shortages, everything is just chaos in this once wonderful city,” said Mr Dube.
Bulawayo Progressive Residents’ Association co-ordinator, Ms Permanent Ngoma said while for them some councillors had been forthcoming in terms of attending residents’ feedback meetings, some had notably disappeared from their wards after elections, with some betraying the residents and going a step further to be involved in corruption cases.
“Honestly they haven’t delivered on their promises. Egodini project we are still in the dark and none of the revised deadlines have been met.
“Residents are not pleased with the City parking tender, from the logic of it being tendered out, to how it was awarded and the pricing. Road rehabilitations are below standard, our clinic continue to remain incapacitated.
“One can also cite the tragic Luveve water contamination cases which claimed innocent lives but no one took responsibility for it. The Luveve Road rehabilitations have stalled and the local authority continues to play public relations instead of giving residents accurate information,” said Ms Ngoma.
The final outlook
As the nation enters the election season it is thus essential that they sit back and think on the kind of local leadership that they are looking forward to because there is always a need to continue developing this wonderful city of Bulawayo.
As the city’s motto goes; Masiyephambili, let us go forward in developing our city.
Online Reporter