High expectations for new Bulawayo councillors

Bulawayo residents have called on incoming Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) councillors to restore the city's glory by tackling collapsing service delivery and recurrent water shortages among other ills.

Bulawayo suffers urban decay, collapsing service delivery and water shortages resulting in water borne diseases becoming endemic while the city's streets are now littered with dirt.

Roads are in poor state, the housing backlog keeps ballooning while sewer and water pipe bursts are common.

CCC won all the local government and Parliamentary seats in last week's election, and residents said they were banking on the elected officials to tackle the city's multi-faceted challenges.

Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) secretary for administration Thembelani Dube called on the councillors to also shun corruption.

"The incoming councillors should implement devolution in its truest sense by adopting a bottom up approach through grassroots consultation before coming up with decisions," Dube said.

"They must practice active and genuine ward-based to ward-squares consultations through engaging local residents' leadership in various forms."

 "We are looking forward to a crop of councillors who will be accountable to the electorate and push for the completion of Egodini project, remove illegal vendors in the central business district as well as consult residents on major policy shifts."

Council  in 2016 contracted a South African company Terracotta Company to construct state-of-the- art Egodini Mall, but the project is far from completion.

The  local authority also in 2022 contracted Tendy Three Investment for a vehicle parking management system which motorists have condemned as corrupt..

Ibhetshu likaZulu coordinator, Mbuso Fuzwayo, urged the incoming councillors to represent the interests of the residents and not party positions.

"They must be people who are working for the development of the city," Fuzwayo said.

Ben Moyo, a local commentator, said Bulawayo deserves to return to its glory days when it used to be ranked as the best run municipality.

"We expect better communication between city management and residents through residents associations," Moyo said.

"We would love to see the council making other revenue generation projects and not solely relying on ratepayers for revenue.

"We expect to see councillors coming up with property registers to know who owns what as a revenue collection mechanism."

CCC leader Nelson Chamisa recently endorsed incoming councillor for  Ward 4 David Coltart to be the next mayor of Bulawayo.

Chamisa made the announcement at a rally held at White City Stadium in Bulawayo last Sunday.