peter
Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
BULAWAYO Mayor, Councillor David Coltart has come under fire from councillors for allegedly adopting an individualistic stance on matters concerning council.
Some councillors are accusing the mayor of holding on to the car parking contract between the local authority and Tendy Three Investments (TTI). Council officials claimed the document was supposed to be given to a specific committee and not the mayor as an individual. The mayor is further accused of convening a meeting with funding partners of South African-based Terracotta Trading – McCormick Property Development Company, who are involved in Egodini terminus construction, without officially notifying fellow councillors.
Councillors who spoke to this publication said members of the finance and development committee had made a request for the contract between the City of Bulawayo and TTI and other relevant documentation but were surprised when council management revealed that the documents were given to Clr Coltart who was ‘‘still looking into it’’.
“The matter was considered and it was recalled that the committee had previously requested to be furnished with the contract for TTI and the audited statements up to December 2022; and the documents were still awaited. He (councillor) sought clarity on the reasons for the delay. In response, the financial director noted all the concerns raised. He explained that the contract was availed to His Worship the Mayor who was still looking into it. He further explained that the audited statements were the responsibility of TTI. However, he advised that necessary arrangements would be made for the committee to engage with TTI as well as ensuring that the requested documents be availed,” reads a council report on the matter that was presented to councillors in November.
According to the report, the councillors felt there was a problem of reputational damage surrounding the parking management system contract hence the importance for them to get sight of the original documents.
“Clr Octavious Dumisani Nkomo’s concern was reputational damage because of the perceptions on TTI. In view of this, he urged the finance committee chairperson to engage the company in order to address the situation. He suggested that TTI’s management reports had to be added to the list of the documents that would be availed to the committee as a means of enhancing the committee’s understanding on the parking management system and also address the concerns of the public. Clr Mxolisi Mahlangu’s opinion was that the contract should be availed to the committee before convening a workshop. He noted that there was public outcry over TTI’s operations which needed to be addressed,” reads the report.
A month later, according to a council report that was presented to councillors last Wednesday, the contract was reportedly still with the mayor and had not been handed over to the committee.
“Clr Mxolisi Mahlangu expressed concern on the report (on parking operations). His concern was that the report was brief and mostly entailed the summary of the accumulated revenue leaving out facts pertaining to the operations of the system. He cited that the report had loopholes which needed to be addressed. He further emphasised on the importance of availing the TTI’s contract and other legal documents that the committee had requested for and also conducting a parking management system workshop, it was a challenge for policymakers to effectively preside over the project because they were not well acquainted on its operations from its inception to date,” reads the report.
Regarding the Egodini terminus rehabilitation project, councillors said they were surprised to see Clr Coltart posting on X (formerly Twitter) revealing that ‘a series of meetings’ had been held with McCormick Property Development.
“After a series of meetings with McCormick Property Development (a SA company), which included a request made to them to redesign the Egodini vendors bays, we are pleased to report that substantial progress has been made and the project is now underway again. The redesign was to ensure that the Egodini vendors market will be fully roofed so as to provide protection to vendors, their customers and their wares. Egodini is a critical component of the City of Bulawayo’s need to decongest areas in the centre of our city (including 5th Avenue) and the project has been bogged down. I am grateful for the new energy which has been injected by McCormick and now hopeful that this long outstanding project may now be completed,” reads the post by Clr Coltart.
Online Reporter