Council fleet now ‘too old’

BBC

BULAWAYO City Council (BBC) councillors say the city needs a new vehicle fleet for better service delivery.

The concerns were raised in the latest council minutes where indications were made that the local authority was facing challenges in service delivery.

"It is time the council replaced old vehicles. More vehicles should be allocated to the Health Services Cleansing Section,” the minutes read.

Last year BCC purchased 10 service delivery vehicles to bolster its fleet but reports indicate that the local authority is now operating with only six vehicles.

The minutes also stated that the health services division could only issue tickets of up to level 3 to environmental offenders.

"Fine tickets were issued by the council’s enforcement teams and payable to the police. Efforts were being done to clean up the city and collect all refuse. The issue of collecting refuse along the compactor’s route to commercial centres had been raised with council staff accordingly.

"Refuse was collected daily in all commercial centres. Industry and the residential refuse collection were once a week. In a situation where the refuse collection had challenges, residents were urged to keep refuse in bags awaiting the next collection," the minutes read.

On dog vaccination against rabies, council said the Veterinary Department was carrying out inoculations.

"Council only collected dog licence fees. All dogs had to be vaccinated before licensing them. Most residents kept dogs illegally. The by-laws do not permit keeping more than 2 dogs in residential areas.

"Ovariohysterectom should be done in all bitches. Dog patrols were hampered by transport shortages. A tie-up order was being considered to reduce the number of stray dogs," the minutes read.

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