Service delivery, a selling point in upcoming elections

Mxolisi Ngwenya

The issue of service delivery in Bulawayo has come under the spotlight, with political parties promising to ‘deliver’ quality services for the residents.

The two major parties, Zanu PF and CCC have been messaging their election promises around service delivery in Bulawayo, a city where  most residents yearn for better.

The opposition has been dominating the council elections in the past 2 decades, attaining seats for all the 29 wards in most cases. However, the ruling  party is hoping to challenge this in this year’s election.

Zanu PF have, on different occasions, blamed the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) for incompetency and lack of a clear forward planning strategy of service delivery in the city. The Emmerson Mnangagwa led party is using the perceived flaws of BCC which is dominated by councillors from Citizens for Coalition Change (CCC), as a counter strategy of garnering votes and gaining local authority seats in the upcoming harmonised elections on 23 August.

CCC is blamed for poor road networks, poor sewege system, amongst other issues, a situation which Zanu PF says has immensely contributed to the decay of infrastructure in the city to deplorable levels.

Jabulani Sibanda who is ZANU-PF Bulawayo Provincial chairman, is on record blaming the opposition-run local authority for delivering poor services in the city of Kings.

“Zanu PF is not to be blamed for the decay in the city and the growing number of vendors whom council is failing to control,” said Sibanda.

He said most roads in the city have potholes which are are a nightmare for motorists as they damage cars and  cause accidents.

“As we are about to go for elections, the future of Bulawayo lies in the hands of the voters. As the ruling party we are saying Bulawayo must vote for Zanu PF and President Mnangagwa because the Second Republic is all about action.

The opposition currently running BCC have been tried and tested and have failed to deliver. Let’s do the right thing and vote wisely to restore the city’s legacy,” said Sibanda.

He is not the only one singing the song. His colleague, Zanu PF Matabeleland North provincial chairperson Richard Moyo also  accuses the BCC management and councillors of abusing vendors trying to eke out an honest living by selling their wares on the streets.

He added; “They (CCC) are also the ones that fail to fix roads for you in the city; they are the very same councillors who are failing to manage the water situation. They are the ones that clamp your cars to raise money for their political parties. You vote for them, but when things go wrong you blame government.

“Government does not run BCC. President Emmerson Mnangagwa has taken over patching of potholes in cities because opposition councillors have failed. They work for themselves, yet the President works for the people.”

In June, the councillors questioned how Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has been allowed to rehabilitate roads in Cowdray Park, where he intends to stand as a Member of Parliament, without their knowledge.

“We have an aspiring candidate who is busy fixing roads without council’s knowledge, we have not been told of anyone having been given authority to fix these roads and we want to know from the committee how it is handling this matter.

“Since he does not have our engineers, we want to know who he is fixing those roads with, and what exactly he is doing there,” complained Ward 12 Councillor Lillian Mlilo at the time.

Recently, commuters and motorists who use Luveve road, called for the speedy completion of rehabilitation works revealing that the road works that are currently taking place are causing congestion therefore and a risk to lives especially during peak hours.

The rehabilitation works began in January this year and were set to include pothole patching, localised pavement reconstruction, overlays, reinstating of carriageway markings, drainage, and other general maintenance works.

Although, the council has fully restored the Matshobana to Mpopoma stretch, solving the drainage system at Makokoba’s Mazayi bridge seem to be far from completion.

In its defence, the opposition has cited meddling in council affairs by July Moyo the Minister of Local Government and Public Works in the operations of local authorities, saying this has had a negative impact on their performance.