RESIDENTS of Bulawayo’s Iminyela and Emabutweni suburbs have accused the local authority of ignoring their calls for improved services, particularly piped water.
BY TALENT GUMPO
The area councillor, Lot Siziba, told a recent full council meeting that none of the grievances by residents in his ward had been addressed since his election in 2013.
“I have made several reports to the call centre but not once have they attended to them. As we speak, there are leakages in several places in this ward, even at the factory shop in Kelvin, there is sewer flowing from burst sewers, none has been attended to,” he said.
“When I came into office, there was a housing scam going own within my ward, I put a stop to it and that is why I am being treated this way. Right now my residents hate me because of council’s wrongdoings. When other councillors report they are attended to, but I am never given attention.”
Residents echoed the councillor’s sentiments saying they feel detached from the rest of the city.
“We are not happy as residents of ward 13 because council does not work with us. They should tell us if they do not want us to be part of the local authority so that we know because right now we feel we are not part of Bulawayo,” a resident Margaret Sibanda, said.
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They said the local authority failed to build toilets for the residents and a private organisation had to intervene by offering to supply material and build toilets for them.
“There’s an organisation called Mfelandawonye, which approached us after we had been let down by council. They said they would build toilets for us and we would pay within a period of two years. Now they are charging us interest, they are not even offering us receipts for the money we pay. We are being cheated,” Aleck Mabuthelela, said.
Contacted for comment, Bulawayo mayor, Martin Moyo said: “We are aware of reports that are made by ward 13 residents and they are noted, only that we lack resources and finance. We also have a shortage of manpower for cases of continued water leakages and sewers, but we do not have the material to fix them at the moment.”
