BCC come hard on MDC-T, Indigenisation ministry

Bulawayo City Council has again denied a government ministry free use of its facilities.

The latest ' victim' is the Ministry of Youth, Indigenisation and Empowerment.

It had hoped to use White City Arena for free next week.

The ministry has sent a request to council saying "The Ministry of Youth, Indigenisation and Empowerment will hold a Provincial Youth Expo on the 14th of October 2016.

"We hereby request the use of the White City Youth Arena for the purposes of this event and it would be much appreciated if the venue is availed at no cost as we are organizing this event at nil budget".

The MDC-T led council turned down the request.

"In the past Council had acceded to free use of it's facilities in respect of national occasions such as Independence and Heroes Day Celebrations in view of the nature of such events.

"However, depending on the merits of each case, some applicants had been granted discounts (eg. 25%, 50%,75%) in respect of the relevant hire charges" it said on its current report seen by Bulawayo24.com today.

Council then resolved "that the request by the Provincial Youth Department (Bulawayo) for free use of the White City Arena be not acceded to and instead the Ministry be offered a 75% rebate on the relevant hire charges, that is,pay 25%".

Last week, council blocked MDC-T from using White City Stadium for free to hold its 17th anniversary celebrations.