Bulawayo Mayor to buy a $100,000 SUV

THE Bulawayo City Council is heading for a collision course with ratepayers after councillors resolved to buy an expensive Sports Utility  Vehicle (SUV) for the new Mayor, Councillor Martin Moyo.

The new crop of councillors in October passed a resolution that council should sell the luxury Chrysler 2.0l CRO Dodge Journey that former Mayor, Thaba Moyo, used on council business to him for $7,000 as part of his exit package.

The vehicle cost council $65,000 in 2010.

The move sparked an outcry from residents who felt Bulawayo was not in a financial position to shoulder the cost of giving away the vehicle.

The new SUV, depending on the make, should cost council between $50,000 and $100,000.

According to a confidential council report, the Town Clerk, Middleton Nyoni, proposed that council should buy a new SUV to replace the vehicle that was given to the former mayor.

"It would be noted that the mayor was currently utilising a twin cab for travelling within the city. It would be more convenient for a sedan or an SUV vehicle to be used for such purposes . . . Meantime, it was recommended that an additional vehicle be acquired for the mayoral fleet,"  Nyoni was quoted as saying, in the report.

It is shown in the report that the Deputy Mayor, Councillor Gift Banda and two other councillors agreed with the suggestion.

After debate, councillors resolved that a mayoral vehicle (Sedan or SUV) be acquired and added to the mayoral fleet as soon as funds became available.

When Chronicle checked for prices of SUVs in the city yesterday, car dealers said they rarely sold them because they were expensive.

"I only buy them for resale when a customer pays half of the money as deposit.

"They are luxury vehicles so the import duty when you bring them in is about 86 percent of the cost of the vehicle.

"The cheapest SUVs cost about $50,000 to buy and bring into the country before we put our mark up. They include the Audi Q5, Subaru Forrester and Infiniti EX. The more expensive ones like the Lexus LX, Mercedes Benz GL Class and Toyota Sequoia, can cost up to $100,000 to import," said one of the dealers.

Comment could not be obtained from Clr Moyo as his mobile phone got disconnected each time it rang.

Town Clerk Nyoni said he could only talk to the Press after the issue had been discussed at the full council meeting tomorrow.

"Wait until after council. I would be in a better position to comment, then," said Nyoni.

However, the chairperson of the Bulawayo United Residents Association, Winos Dube said ratepayers were being shortchanged by council.

"We are setting a very bad precedent that will leave the city poorer. Councillors are supposed to volunteer their services and get a token of appreciation from residents. Giving away such expensive exit packages to ceremonial mayors cannot be good for the city," said Dube.

He said the situation would lead to  mayors facilitating that expensive luxury vehicles be bought for them during their tenure so that they got them as exit packages when they left their positions.

"The Government should urgently look into  this issue. We have seen it happening in Gweru and recently the Government stopped it in Masvingo.

"Local authorities are struggling to raise  enough money to provide a decent service to ratepayers and I think they can do without the expense of expensive luxury vehicles after every five years," said Dube.

Former Gweru Mayor Tedious Chimombe was given a Toyota Prado and a residential stand in Athlone low density suburb as his exit package.

Chimombe also received two months allowance for every year served.

During his term in office, he also received a big residential stand in Mkoba Village 12.

Recently, the Government quashed a move by the Masvingo City Council to award former mayor, Alderman Femius Chakabuda, a residential stand and the mayoral Mercedes Benz as his exit package.