Angry residents besiege Mayor's home

THERE was pandemonium in Bulawayo's Nkulumane 5 suburb yesterday when an angry mob of about 50 residents stormed the Mayor, Councillor Thaba Moyo's home accusing him of abusing his office to force them to use his overnight car park.

Clr Moyo owns Ko Bullet Overnight Car Park, next to Bullet Shopping Centre.

Motorists have reportedly been shunning the car par park, preferring to keep their cars outside the shopping centre every night.

Yesterday, they woke up to find all the vehicles at the shopping centre having been clamped by council personnel in an early morning raid.

The motorists mobilised and made a beeline for Clr Moyo's home, nearby, baying for his blood.

They said they were also very angry because they had not been given a warning about the raid, which they said made them get to work late as they had to attend to the matter until the afternoon.

A total of 27 vehicles were clamped and their owners had to pay $32 each to get the clamps removed.

A motorist who did not have the money to pay had his car towed to the council storage facilities along 12th Avenue, at an extra cost of $65.

One of the Mayor's neighbours said: "We heard the thunderous sound of many voices raised in anger at about 7.30am and came out to watch. I think if these people had found the Mayor at home, they would have lynched him because they looked and sounded very p....d off."

A number of the motorists vented their anger in separate interviews yesterday.

"This is abuse of power. The Mayor wants to force us to use his car park which has a coal dust surface that makes our cars dirty. We went to his house to confront him. Luckily for him he was not at home," said one of the motorists.

Another motorist who identified himself as Mr Albert Mutsagyanja said a girl peeped through the window and told them the Mayor was not at home.

"This man is cruel, he should respect residents. When we got back to the car park, council security officers said in future we should use the car park as they would continue clamping cars parked at the shopping centre overnight. They said it was one of the conditions of car registration that the vehicles should be kept at a fixed address overnight," said an angry Mr Mutsagyanja.

He said the security officers removed the clamps and accompanied them in a convoy from Nkulumane to the storage facility along 12th Avenue.

"When we got there, they said we should leave our vehicles and go to the council revenue hall to pay a $15 fine for illegal parking. However, after paying they demanded a further $17 for keeping the cars at the facility, even though it was for only about 30 minutes. In the end we had to cough up because we needed our cars," he said.

The motorists said one of their colleagues works out of town so his car was towed at an extra $65 to the storage facility.

"He will have to pay $17 for every day the car is at the place. Our cars are safer outside the shopping centre where we pay $1 each every night. Although the mayor's car park charges the same rates, we have issues with it. Security is very lax and things have been stolen from our cars there. When we complain, we are shown a sign that says cars are kept there at owner's risk," said the motorists.

Clr Moyo could not be reached for comment on his mobile phone.

However, council's senior public relations officer, Mrs Nesisa Mpofu, defended the Mayor saying the local authority was on a clean-up exercise all over the city targeting illegal overnight car parks.

"So far, we have done Entumbane, Nhlalo and Nhliziyo Shopping centres, Pelandaba, Tashas Shopping Centre and a house popularly known as Ko Chifamba at Nkulumane 11. Today, we did Bullet Shopping Centre," said Mrs Mpofu.

She said residents also besieged Clr Ngwalo Nyathi's home when the exercise was carried out at Ko Chifamba.

"All illegal car parks that we have dealt with so far have closed down but we still have a lot of work to do in Pumula Old and East, Mzilikazi, Magwegwe, Cowdray Park, Nketa and the Central Business District," she said.