News / National
BCC denies plans to disband municipal police for private security
05 Jul 2023 at 15:22hrs | Views
The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has denied media reports it was planning to disband the municipal police in place of a private security company so as to cut costs.
The local authority faced a backlash from residents following the reports, which also indicated the private security firm was going to offer its services under a 12-month contract arrangement.
Residents felt council should instead take steps to lift the capacity of municipal police to improve its service.
In a statement, BCC town clerk Christopher Dube said it was neither disbanding municipal police nor replacing permanent employees with contract workers.
"With reference to the article titled 'BCC to disband municipal police' published in the Chronicle of Wednesday, 28th June 2023 and articles on various platforms alluding to the above, please be advised that this is not the position of the City of Bulawayo.
"A report outlining various revenue collection strategies was submitted to a special general purposes committee on the 1st of June 2023 and several interventions were proposed including; replacement of City Council Municipal Police at the Revenue Hall with a private security company, replacement of city council permanent staff at the Revenue Hall with contract workers and reopening of Khotama market," reads the statement.
The city boss said the proposals were not approved.
"Council has no plans to disband any of its sections or convert permanent employees' contracts of employment to fixed terms contracts.
"The City of Bulawayo does not carry out such actions without consulting the relevant stakeholders i.e workers unions or affected employees.
"Stakeholders are advised to take note of council's position as stated above."
The once stable local authority now faces a slew of challenges that have seen service delivery standards take a knock.
The country's second largest urban authority has also been battling challenges in providing portable water to residents often leading to punishing water shedding schedules.
The local authority faced a backlash from residents following the reports, which also indicated the private security firm was going to offer its services under a 12-month contract arrangement.
Residents felt council should instead take steps to lift the capacity of municipal police to improve its service.
In a statement, BCC town clerk Christopher Dube said it was neither disbanding municipal police nor replacing permanent employees with contract workers.
"With reference to the article titled 'BCC to disband municipal police' published in the Chronicle of Wednesday, 28th June 2023 and articles on various platforms alluding to the above, please be advised that this is not the position of the City of Bulawayo.
"A report outlining various revenue collection strategies was submitted to a special general purposes committee on the 1st of June 2023 and several interventions were proposed including; replacement of City Council Municipal Police at the Revenue Hall with a private security company, replacement of city council permanent staff at the Revenue Hall with contract workers and reopening of Khotama market," reads the statement.
"Council has no plans to disband any of its sections or convert permanent employees' contracts of employment to fixed terms contracts.
"The City of Bulawayo does not carry out such actions without consulting the relevant stakeholders i.e workers unions or affected employees.
"Stakeholders are advised to take note of council's position as stated above."
The once stable local authority now faces a slew of challenges that have seen service delivery standards take a knock.
The country's second largest urban authority has also been battling challenges in providing portable water to residents often leading to punishing water shedding schedules.
Source - zimlive
