City council meets residents

Rejoyce Sibanda/Tafadzwa Chibukwa, Chronicle Reporters
RESIDENTS have slammed the Bulawayo City Council over the poor state of roads, burst sewer pipes and prevailing water supply problems which they say do not tally with the bills they pay.

Speaking during the council’s 2022 Budget Performance Review meetings on Sunday, disgruntled residents demanded that the local authority improves its services to motivate rate payers.

The budget review meetings began last Friday and ended on Sunday. Councillors from the 29 wards presided over them in their respective areas.

During the meeting, council officials took the opportunity to unpack priority development projects being undertaken by council and outlined progress achieved and plans.

However, residents expressed reservations on the council’s commitment to respond to their concerns especially the grievances over the recent foreign currency-indexed bills, which they said do not match the ordinary people’s incomes.

Ward 2 residents who held their meeting at Sauerstown suburb complained over damaged roads that have not been attended to for a long time. They said the road leading to Umvutsha Cemetery, for instance, was an eyesore.

“Our roads have been in a bad state for many years and council is not even making effort to repair them. We want to bury our relatives in peace,” said a resident who identified himself as Mr Nyoni.

Others pleaded with council to drill more boreholes or provide bowsers to alleviate biting water supply challenges amid prolonged water cuts.

Ward 3 residents who met at the Small City Hall accused council of poor communication on matters of critical service delivery, which also affects attendance of crucial public meetings.

“The problem is that according to the advised water shedding schedule Mahatshula is supposed get water for four days but that is not the case,” fumed Mrs Simiso Magwaza from Mahatshula.

“This is because in the first two days water from the tap would be dirty and not usable. So, basically the suburb gets water for only two days a week.”

Residents said the poor water supplies pose serious health hazards as people end up using dirty water for domestic purposes while some resort to open defecation.

Others queried the three percent retention fund that is supposed to be developing communities through proper street lighting and the fixing of roads but said they were not getting value for their money.

Another resident, Mr Misheck Manyokore, said council must expedite street naming to ensure easy location of houses.
“The street naming process should be done quickly because as it is Mahatshula is big and so without street names some places are hard to find,” he said.

Residents from Ward 8 complained over inadequate metre reading and accused council of using estimated readings.

Those on higher ground said they have not had water for several weeks despite council issuing a water shedding timetable.

Residents also appealed to the city council to renovate flats in Nguboyenja and Mzilikazi suburbs.

Others commended the positive strides by the council and made reference to the installation of the SF6 Breakers at Ncema and Fernhill high voltage switch yard and the sewer upgrade project in Makokoba.

The council proposed to take corrective measures in response to the plight of residents including empowering vocational training centres.