Jabulani Sibanda blasts councillors

ZANU-PF Bulawayo provincial chairman Jabulani Sibanda has urged residents in the city to vote for political leaders with integrity, as the current breed of city fathers have presided over widespread corruption, converting council resources to personal enrichment while neglecting the needs of communities.

Sibanda made these remarks during a Meet the Candidates meeting for Ward 21 yesterday. The meeting, held at Tshabalala Hall, was organised by the Bulawayo Action Group in conjunction with the Bulawayo Residents' Association (Bura).

Janet Moyo (Zanu-PF), Geshom Zimba (MDC-A) and Tinevimbo Maphosa (CCC) will go head-to-head in Ward 21 in by-elections slated for 26 March. Addressing the meeting, Sibanda said corruption in council chambers had stripped communities of revenue-generating projects meant to aid in development and renewal.

"Our children should have hope. They should have hope to one day get a job, buy a car, own a house and start a family. As things stand, they have none of that and the people that we are electing as city fathers are taking everything.

They have depleted our resources like the bars and beer halls that used to finance council programmes and projects.

Our grandmothers are now the ones that are paying monies that eventually go on to fund the salaries of mayors and other officials. We are paying them so that they go on to steal from us. I want to say that their time is up," he said.

Sibanda said it was time for residents to take power back and realise that resources like car parks and beer halls were meant to benefit them instead of elected officials or those close to them.

"I told members of council that all contracts pertaining to car parks should be expired. These parks should not be owned by shady characters with links to the council but they should be in the names of the widows and orphans. If this does not happen, we will demonstrate," he said.

Sibanda urged residents to put aside party allegiances and vote for leaders who had their true interests at heart.

"Let us open our eyes. We don't realise it but we are sinking and our feet are submerged in water. We should stop fighting each other and realise that we are dying and the only way for us to stop this flood is to unite.

Forget about your party. When we go and vote, we should vote for people that we know will answer when we call in our hour of need. Vote for a person that you can send them to fulfil a particular task, you know they will come back to you again," he said.

Responding to complaints from residents about the outbreak of violence in schools in the ward, Sibanda encouraged parents to create an environment that enabled children to be moulded into upstanding citizens.

The meeting's chief co-ordinator, Mr Sevina Ncube, said those elected would have to be accountable to residents even beyond election day.

"Let me take this opportunity to inform the ‘aspiring candidates' that when voted into office by the people, you have the duty to serve the people, hence it is our mandate as an organisation to follow you up when you do not deliver. This meeting was organized for you to inform the residents how you intend to deliver services to this ward," he said.