Online Reporter
Vusumuzi Dube, Deputy Radar Editor
THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has adopted a comprehensive pro-poor policy aimed at cushioning the city’s most vulnerable residents from economic and social shocks.
The new policy, adopted during a recent full council meeting, consolidates a range of welfare initiatives under a single, unified framework, ensuring consistency and effectiveness in their implementation.
For years, the city has implemented pro-poor strategies across various departments, but without a guiding document, the interventions lacked uniformity. Now, the local authority has taken a significant step by formalising these strategies into a cohesive policy, a move expected to enhance transparency, accountability, and equitable service delivery.
One of the flagship interventions of the policy includes the provision of free water to indigent households, with the council pledging to supply up to three kilolitres per month to vulnerable residents. Eligibility will be determined through assessments conducted by the council’s social workers, and the benefit will be subject to annual reviews to ensure only deserving households benefit.
In times of water shedding, the policy stipulates that bereaved families can request water delivery via bowsers.
Households may also submit pre- and post-funeral water meter readings along with a burial order to avoid penalties for exceeding water thresholds during funeral wakes.
Expectant mothers classified as vulnerable will also benefit from free or subsidised maternity services through the Results-Based Financing (RBF) programme. This initiative aims to ensure equity in access to maternal healthcare, with assessments and registration managed by the city’s social workers, while the Department of Health Services will provide clinical support.
According to the latest council report, the city has long been offering various support programmes such as community gardens, social housing, free healthcare for selected groups, paupers’ burials, parking fee waivers for senior citizens (aged 70+), skills training for youth and women, rate rebates for the elderly and disadvantaged, and support for local vendors and community-based work programmes such as grass cutting and storm drain clearing.
Under the new policy, elderly residents will now receive a 50 percent rebate on the rates component of their bills. Vulnerable groups will also be prioritised in the allocation of housing stands. These include people with disabilities, orphans, especially child-headed families, women, youths, and those relocating from other towns for employment.
“Over the years, the City of Bulawayo has been rolling out a number of pro-poor strategies to assist vulnerable individuals and groups. These strategies include community gardens, social housing, free access to health services by selected groups, vending, engagement of community groups in grass cutting, storm drain clearing and street sweeping, rate rebates, secondary school bursary, handicraft skills training and parking fees waiver for senior citizens,” read the council minutes.
“The objectives of these humanitarian interventions and pro-poor initiatives are to assist less privileged groups within the city. These strategies are being implemented by respective departments; however, their broad objectives are the same. The unified pro-poor strategies will enhance implementation of the city’s pro-poor policy interventions.”
On free water access, the local authority’s social workers will be responsible for ensuring the rightful beneficiaries benefit from the scheme.
“The city shall provide free water up to a maximum of three kilolitres to indigents upon assessment by council social workers. The free water threshold shall be availed to assessed and confirmed vulnerable households only,” reads the report.
In addressing homelessness, the policy empowers social workers to identify, assess, and facilitate the placement of individuals and families without shelter. In line with the Children’s Act, child-headed households will be referred to appropriate institutions, while homeless adults will be considered for placement in halfway homes.
Furthermore, all social assistance beneficiaries will be entered into a central database, managed by respective departments and disaggregated by gender, youth, and disability status. Only residents and ratepayers of the City of Bulawayo will be eligible for these pro-poor allocations.
“Council’s social workers shall identify, assess and recommend appropriate placements for homeless individuals and families. In liaison with the Department of Social Development, social workers shall refer homeless or abandoned children for placement in Children’s Homes in line with the provisions of the Children’s Act. Homeless adults shall be referred and recommended for placement in halfway homes,” reads the report.
