Chronicle Editor
Mkhululi Ncube, Sunday News Reporter
WHILE Bulilima and Mangwe Rural District councils formerly Bulilima-Mangwe got separated in 2002 resulting in the creation of the current set up, one could be forgiven for thinking the two have remained one as they have been using one building as their offices.
Located in Plumtree Town, the two RDCs use the same gates, bathrooms and for a long time have even been sharing the boardroom for their council meetings. As far as the parking area is concerned, one would also be confused as there is only one parking space.
As one enters the gate, they are welcomed by two competing writings, one declaring that the place is for Bulilima Rural District Council and another reading that it is Mangwe Rural District Council. The staffers from both councils use the same door entrance with Bulilima staffers turning left to their offices while Mangwe staffers turn right.
Basically, it’s one building with two wings with each council occupying its own. On Friday, both councils held the swearing in ceremony of their newly elected councillors at the same time and same venue but thanks to Bulilima Rural District Council that have built new offices including a new board room, the two events went on without a challenge at the same building but different rooms.
Bulilima Rural District Council chief executive officer Mr Billiat Mlauzi confirmed the seemingly unfamiliar arrangement which had existed since 2002.
“Bulilima and Mangwe are two different local authorities although we used to be one local authority Bulilima-Mangwe. In 2002 we were separated into three local authorities — Bulilima, Mangwe (Rural District Councils) and Plumtree Town Council. The two rural districts councils continued operating from the same building but what we did was to use separate wings so you will find that we are sharing some of these facilities like the boardroom and ablution rooms because we are still within the same building,” said Mr Mlauzi.
He said the situation resulted in congestion in the building with clients of the two councils getting lost within the building trying to locate the “correct council and office.”
As a result, the youthful CEO said his council embarked on building new offices within the same building to help solve the problem.
“We have extended our offices to decongest it because we had a situation where a head of department will be sharing the office with subordinates. We now have a new boardroom, reception and a number of offices which are almost complete. We will soon be moving in and that will result in us stopping the sharing arrangements with our counterparts from Mangwe RDC,” he said.
Mr Mlauzi said the council took a resolution to relocate to Masendu area but nothing had happened since it was taken.
He said the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works has been pushing the two councils to relocate from Plumtree.
“Moving to Masendu at this particular time is not ideal because there is a lot that needs to be done. We then felt that this should not stop us from developing these offices that we are currently using. In the event that we move to our district it means we will have to rent them out because they are our assets and they will contribute to our revenue,” he said.
He said when the three councils were created, assets including the current buildings were shared equally although they two RDCs remained sharing water and electrical bills.
Mr Mlauzi said after the construction of the new offices Bulilima will now have separate bills.
Efforts to get a comment from Mangwe Rural District Council CEO, Mr Bongani Ngwenya were fruitless as he was not reachable on his phone nor did he respond to messages sent on his WhatsApp. — @themkhust
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu