Bulawayo residents march against corruption

This weekend BPRA took part in celebrations to launch the anti corruption campaign by Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ) in Bulawayo held under the Theme "Tshiya ubugwelegwele, thuthukisa uBulawayo" (Stop corruption, develop Bulawayo). The event was attended by more than 200 residents from Bulawayo's 29 wards and included a road show and a march against corruption around the city center.

Bulawayo residents were encouraged to work closely with TIZ and other organisations to fight corruption. Residents highlighted that there is a lot of abuse of state resources which resulted in poor services being rendered to residents as their taxes were being misdirected by corrupt officials. They also raised concerns about the inconvenience of water and power cuts and the general deteriorating service delivery in the city pointing to the fact that if corruption was curbed a lot of problems in these areas would be solved.

Reverend Ray Motsi of Churches in Bulawayo and Grace to Heal bemoaned the fact that corruption was now even affecting the national economy. He said it is time that people started to play an active role in trying to stop corruption in the country. Residents lamented the fact that the custodians of peace and security, the police, had become so involved in corruption that they felt there were now lesser channels to use to fight this cancer if the police were also involved.

Mzilikazi residents have joined the wider calls for a more transparent system of administration for the Harmonised Social Cash Transfer (HSCT) programme arguing that the poor information dissemination on the programme was now causing many of them to lose out on its benefits. The sentiments were expressed at a consultative meeting held at Macdonald hall in Mzilikazi ward 8 were BPRA gathered residents to talk about the benefits and challenges of the project so far in the pilot areas.