THE Bulawayo City Council has been urged to engage civic society organisations (CSOs) and ordinary residents in deciding who to honour, as the debate over a motion to award Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai Freedom of the City rages on.
Report by Blondie Ndebele
Mthwakazi Youth Joint Resolution (MYJR) spokesman Mqondisi Moyo told a Press conference on Tuesday that Bulawayo residents should decide on who had affected their lives positively enough to deserve to be honoured with the Freedom of the City award.
“It would be sensible to involve the people to decide who they feel deserves the honour rather than to strategically use the award for political mileage,” he said.
“CSOs have never been given a chance to participate in the council proceedings of selecting those respected community people who deserve to be honoured.”
Bulawayo councillors last week moved a motion to grant Tsvangirai, his deputy Thokozani Khupe and Water Resources Development and Management minister Samuel Sipepa Nkomo the Freedom of the City, triggering massive debate on whether the trio deserved to be honoured.
MYJR chairperson Busani Sibindi said the city council had erred in choosing the three and alleged that the city fathers were not acting in good faith.
“They deliberately delayed in selecting a reputable person until general elections were close, which shows that they are not doing it in good faith, but as a campaign strategy to increase
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political mileage for their leaders,” he said.
Sibindi said the Freedom of the City award being a apolitical honour should be given to people who had delivered significant services to the city and not only politicians.
“The honour should be given to particular people who have contributed diligently to the development of the city or can in the future contribute to the development of the city immensely,” reads a statement by MYJR.
