Opinion / Columnist
Ndebele Mayor is dismally failing Bulawayo: Why is the Bulawayo Residence Association mum about BCC discrepancies?
30 Apr 2021 at 19:35hrs | Views
Nomazulu Thata
Without the former deputy mayor of Bulawayo Tinashe Karambani, the senior executives in the City Council are failing to eradicate corruption in the city. The BCC is once again in the headlines today for wrong reasons accused of swindling more than 10,000 litres of fuel supposed to be used in refuse collection and many other crucial services and amenities that demand the use of transport. Having claimed that the BCC cannot affect delivery service because of fuel shortages, fuel has been made available but has been swindled by corrupt officers, I am sure the Mayor and the Town Cleck are privy of this corruption ravaging the City of Bulawayo.
Curiously, the Shona man supposed to be very corrupt and had theft charges of a five-meter electric cable is Tinashe Karambani: one would have thought that after his sacking from the deputy mayoral duties, we shall never again hear about corruption in the City Council. We erred in thinking that corruption is tribal transmitted disease. Deputy Mayor Karambani was accused of giving tenders to people from Mashonaland: He lost his job purely on tribal lines. We have a home-grown Dalithemba Sibanda who was given an under-hand tender by the town cleck; Christopher Dube: corruption per se.
Dalithemba Sibanda did not own up to the contract. Investigations realized he had no fuel to execute the contract. From 10,000 litres, another 3000 litre were given to him but failed all the same. The Town Cleck was reticent to explain why Sibanda failed to deliver as per the contract agreement, Dube is privy of the discrepancies of the contract. Sibanda continued to pin Christopher Dube to the fact that he knew about the failings or let us say he was part of the corruption ring together with Dalithemba Sibanda.
Dalithemba Sibanda got way with a warning letter. No police report was made to investigate the rot in BCC. Yes, the AAG tried their best to expose the corrupt activities of the BCC. The black empowerment lobby group were spot-on when they accused the City Fathers of aiding corruption. They are not only aiding it but most of them are part of it including the Town cleck Christopher Dube.
Why is the Bulawayo Residence Association silent about the corruption going on in BCC? They are nowhere to be heard at least making complaints about poor service delivery in the city. Are we saying it is okay to loot City funds if the people looting BCC dry are of Ndebele origin? I beg to differ on this, as someone born in this city in Makokoba, I refuse corruption and condemn this gross looting it did not matter to me if these criminals councillors are of Ndebele origin. Corruption must be openly condemned irrespective of who does it.
Three weeks ago the Lord Mayor was allocated a mayoral residence in a posh area of the city at the cost of the treasury that is almost bankrupt. Again the Lord Mayor got himself hectors of land in prime areas of Bulawayo that cost him 97 Zim. cents a month. Remember when he leaves the City council the piece of land will be given to him as a golden good-bye. Time is spent swindling scarce resources in the City treasury to pep up luxury lifestyles of councillors than execute the necessities of Bulawayo residents. Even the residents are not complaining about this gross misconduct and bare corruption taking place on their noses.
Most high-density areas have no running water; tapes are dry or have been dry for years. The rains were good this year. All the rainwater that flooded the tributaries to the Zambezi River has flown to the great Zambezi. Bulawayo dams are silted; cannot hold enough water for the whole year and beyond if the subsequent years had poor rainfall. The money the councillors loot should go to projects of desilting Bulawayo dams. The money should go to renewal of water pipes the whole of Bulawayo. There is a lot of wasted clean because of damaged water pipes connecting residential areas. We have only 8 officers who read meters the whole of Bulawayo! I rest my case.
The people of this region have been promised that Bulawayo is to get a pipeline from the Zambezi to Bulawayo. This dream has been with us the past 100 years. The British South Africa Company realized the dryness of the area and hatched the idea of syphoning water from the Zambezi to boost the Bulawayo industries. MZWP is still in our dreams and we do not know for how long. There was a chance when that dream could have been realized. "Einfach warten und Tee trinken:" says the German adage.
Watching the interview made by HRH Prince Zwide Khumalo, he said something pertinent. He talked about making bridges in Matabeleland and capture the rain we see flowing in our tributaries to the main River Zambezi. I could not agree with him more than what he said in that interview that was loaded with facts about development in the region of Matabeleland. I did not hear HRH talking about begging for money in Europe and elsewhere to affect some semblance of development in the region. I have great respect for HRH after having seen him talking in that interview.
ZACC should revisit Bulawayo City Council and check on the cash-flows of the BCC treasury and how they manage them. Be it refuse discharge, water management, roads in the city of Bulawayo are a disgrace. But they demand rentals to be paid without delay. The residents pay for water they do not get, electricity they do not get, town roads are unworthy, instead the mayor sees it in his discretion to condemn the Sidojiwe Flats as unliveable. This came to his realization when the IOM visited the area. I wonder if it was the first time Mguni visited the area together with the international organisation IOM. International organisations outside Zimbabwe are the ones who tell us about standards and how sub-standard housing amenities are in our areas because our officers do not see the difference.
It is now obvious that the Town Cleck Christopher Dube wanted Tinashe Karambani out of BCC, a move to get his own people to be offered City contracts. However, they cannot execute these contracts to professional standards. To steal a 5 meter-cable is a crime nowhere near the corruption going on in BCC. We have people in Luveve who lost their lives because they were provided water infested with sewage from Khami Dam. No one lost his or her job because of gross mismanagement of waterworks, at least one would have expected the Mayor to resign from his post as a sign of respect of lives lost in his discharge of duties in Bulawayo City. Bulawayo Town right in the city is a sorry sight, a ghost of its glory past. The lord mayor is not worried about the reputation he is going to leave behind. He and many of them are mostly concerned about how much they can loot in the given time.
The former Prime Minster Ian Douglas Smith said: I will not give independence to black people because their children will play in overflowing sewage drainages and will not realize that. We are not only walking on sewage waters but drinking faecal-oral and dying of it.
Nkomo said stop this tribalism because it will not take you anywhere. There are people who demand the ghost of Joshua Nkomo to be publicly hanged. Nkomo is a man who fought tribalism and exemplified a unified nation in his party. Listen to them talking about Zapu that should be seen in the same set of rot as Zanu: it is the Nkomo in Zapu they hate more than Zapu in him: they are now looking for his ghost everywhere to hang it in the public. Just any movement of a tree in the dark could be Joshua Nkomo's ghost! Hang him and publicly!
Today when I think about statements we used to make in Zambia, I can say it differently. Is it better to have a corrupt Town cleck like Christopher Dube who aided in swindling 10,00 litres of fuel meant for the BCC than a thief Tinashe Karambani who stole 5 metre cable? Joshua said find someone who can execute the job professionally than to give a tender to someone who has no idea about road construction but because he is of Ndebele tribe if he loots it did not matter it is okay. The councillors at BCC are not fit for purpose. The Bulawayo residents must demand their resignations.
Curiously, the Shona man supposed to be very corrupt and had theft charges of a five-meter electric cable is Tinashe Karambani: one would have thought that after his sacking from the deputy mayoral duties, we shall never again hear about corruption in the City Council. We erred in thinking that corruption is tribal transmitted disease. Deputy Mayor Karambani was accused of giving tenders to people from Mashonaland: He lost his job purely on tribal lines. We have a home-grown Dalithemba Sibanda who was given an under-hand tender by the town cleck; Christopher Dube: corruption per se.
Dalithemba Sibanda did not own up to the contract. Investigations realized he had no fuel to execute the contract. From 10,000 litres, another 3000 litre were given to him but failed all the same. The Town Cleck was reticent to explain why Sibanda failed to deliver as per the contract agreement, Dube is privy of the discrepancies of the contract. Sibanda continued to pin Christopher Dube to the fact that he knew about the failings or let us say he was part of the corruption ring together with Dalithemba Sibanda.
Dalithemba Sibanda got way with a warning letter. No police report was made to investigate the rot in BCC. Yes, the AAG tried their best to expose the corrupt activities of the BCC. The black empowerment lobby group were spot-on when they accused the City Fathers of aiding corruption. They are not only aiding it but most of them are part of it including the Town cleck Christopher Dube.
Why is the Bulawayo Residence Association silent about the corruption going on in BCC? They are nowhere to be heard at least making complaints about poor service delivery in the city. Are we saying it is okay to loot City funds if the people looting BCC dry are of Ndebele origin? I beg to differ on this, as someone born in this city in Makokoba, I refuse corruption and condemn this gross looting it did not matter to me if these criminals councillors are of Ndebele origin. Corruption must be openly condemned irrespective of who does it.
Three weeks ago the Lord Mayor was allocated a mayoral residence in a posh area of the city at the cost of the treasury that is almost bankrupt. Again the Lord Mayor got himself hectors of land in prime areas of Bulawayo that cost him 97 Zim. cents a month. Remember when he leaves the City council the piece of land will be given to him as a golden good-bye. Time is spent swindling scarce resources in the City treasury to pep up luxury lifestyles of councillors than execute the necessities of Bulawayo residents. Even the residents are not complaining about this gross misconduct and bare corruption taking place on their noses.
Most high-density areas have no running water; tapes are dry or have been dry for years. The rains were good this year. All the rainwater that flooded the tributaries to the Zambezi River has flown to the great Zambezi. Bulawayo dams are silted; cannot hold enough water for the whole year and beyond if the subsequent years had poor rainfall. The money the councillors loot should go to projects of desilting Bulawayo dams. The money should go to renewal of water pipes the whole of Bulawayo. There is a lot of wasted clean because of damaged water pipes connecting residential areas. We have only 8 officers who read meters the whole of Bulawayo! I rest my case.
Watching the interview made by HRH Prince Zwide Khumalo, he said something pertinent. He talked about making bridges in Matabeleland and capture the rain we see flowing in our tributaries to the main River Zambezi. I could not agree with him more than what he said in that interview that was loaded with facts about development in the region of Matabeleland. I did not hear HRH talking about begging for money in Europe and elsewhere to affect some semblance of development in the region. I have great respect for HRH after having seen him talking in that interview.
ZACC should revisit Bulawayo City Council and check on the cash-flows of the BCC treasury and how they manage them. Be it refuse discharge, water management, roads in the city of Bulawayo are a disgrace. But they demand rentals to be paid without delay. The residents pay for water they do not get, electricity they do not get, town roads are unworthy, instead the mayor sees it in his discretion to condemn the Sidojiwe Flats as unliveable. This came to his realization when the IOM visited the area. I wonder if it was the first time Mguni visited the area together with the international organisation IOM. International organisations outside Zimbabwe are the ones who tell us about standards and how sub-standard housing amenities are in our areas because our officers do not see the difference.
It is now obvious that the Town Cleck Christopher Dube wanted Tinashe Karambani out of BCC, a move to get his own people to be offered City contracts. However, they cannot execute these contracts to professional standards. To steal a 5 meter-cable is a crime nowhere near the corruption going on in BCC. We have people in Luveve who lost their lives because they were provided water infested with sewage from Khami Dam. No one lost his or her job because of gross mismanagement of waterworks, at least one would have expected the Mayor to resign from his post as a sign of respect of lives lost in his discharge of duties in Bulawayo City. Bulawayo Town right in the city is a sorry sight, a ghost of its glory past. The lord mayor is not worried about the reputation he is going to leave behind. He and many of them are mostly concerned about how much they can loot in the given time.
The former Prime Minster Ian Douglas Smith said: I will not give independence to black people because their children will play in overflowing sewage drainages and will not realize that. We are not only walking on sewage waters but drinking faecal-oral and dying of it.
Nkomo said stop this tribalism because it will not take you anywhere. There are people who demand the ghost of Joshua Nkomo to be publicly hanged. Nkomo is a man who fought tribalism and exemplified a unified nation in his party. Listen to them talking about Zapu that should be seen in the same set of rot as Zanu: it is the Nkomo in Zapu they hate more than Zapu in him: they are now looking for his ghost everywhere to hang it in the public. Just any movement of a tree in the dark could be Joshua Nkomo's ghost! Hang him and publicly!
Today when I think about statements we used to make in Zambia, I can say it differently. Is it better to have a corrupt Town cleck like Christopher Dube who aided in swindling 10,00 litres of fuel meant for the BCC than a thief Tinashe Karambani who stole 5 metre cable? Joshua said find someone who can execute the job professionally than to give a tender to someone who has no idea about road construction but because he is of Ndebele tribe if he loots it did not matter it is okay. The councillors at BCC are not fit for purpose. The Bulawayo residents must demand their resignations.
Source - Nomazulu Thata
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