Council rapped for failure to provide basic amenities
Thandeka Matebesi
Residents have accused the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) of poor planning which has resulted in Emganwini suburb going for decades without basic amenities.
The suburb is the only one in the city without a clinic, library, community hall among other services.
For the past three decades Emganwini residents have been forced to walk long distances to access health care services from Nketa and Nkulumane clinics, with reports of women giving birth either at home or on the way to clinic.
Thandekile Ndlovu, a resident said council has had ample time to construct a clinic but has not done so due to lack of planning.
“I have stayed in Emganwini for a period of 12 years. The state of service delivery is very poor, first and foremost, we still have a challenge in terms of access to a health centre, there is no clinic in our area.
We have heard that a clinic is under construction. We were also told that there will be a temporary clinic in the form of one of houses conversion to a clinic. As a resident, I feel that had council planned for the construction of the clinic years ago it would be complete by now instead of using a temporary facility. I think it’s really an issue of poor planning and management on the council’s part which is causing the lack of such important services.”
“In my area there are no public toilets at the shops. People relieve themselves anywhere, posing a serious health hazard. We also do not have a library and a community hall. Emganwini has been around since the 90s, that is a long time. The council should have planned for that,” said Ndlovu.
Last year, the local authority revealed plans to convert one of the houses in the suburb into a makeshift clinic following a petition from residents’ associations over the lack of a health facility in the area.
The local authority also said it had no budget for the construction of a proper health facility in the area hence the decision for a temporary facility.
Residents however, chipped in by mobilising resources towards the construction of a satellite clinic in a serviced area provided by the council, with each household contributing as little as R10 to complement funds from the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).
According to Ndlovu, only the councillor is visible in the area and the MP has rarely been seen since his election in 2018 with reports that he relocated to the eastern suburbs.
Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) Secretary for Administration Thembelani Dube stated that it is council’s mandate to construct facilities such as clinics for residents, not to depend on CDF disbursements.
“Clinics and libraries are facilities that are a prerogative of the local authority. CDF disbursements are priority oriented. Priorities are listed by residents in public fora where they are supposed to do a community needs assessment, identify and prioritize projects,” said Dube.
He added that Constituency Development Funds are solely meant for constituency development not for the personal use of the representative and, are allocated to wards following a needs assessment.
“Constituency Development Funds are devolved funds from Central Government meant to attend to constituency specific needs identified by locals of that community/constituency. Different wards in a constituency may have varying needs hence the need to do needs assessment, to prioritize and cater for the different needs. The public representative, that is the House of Assembly member sent by the constituency is the recipient of the funds on behalf of the electorate and the community at large. It’s not his/her money,” he said.
Dube said the association has platforms for communities to engage their representatives. However, some representatives become unavailable soon after election.
“Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) being a community driven and people centred residents association has for the last fifteen years been providing platforms for engagement, where public elected duty bearers are frequently invited to interact with the electorate who give them the mandate to execute duties on their behalf, albeit some of them exhibit traits of arrogance once elected into office,” said Dube.
Sitting Member of Parliament for Nketa – Emganwini constituency Honourable Phelela Masuku revealed to this publication that the construction of the clinic was almost complete.
“We are constructing a 5-roomed clinic in ward 26 at Millennium, Emganwini and it’s almost ninety-nine percent complete. We are only left with fitting toilet sittings. The project is being implemented in collaboration with the residents and the council which provided funds, land and manpower, respectively.
“CDF money is too little compared to the demands of the constituency. As it is, we used all the money to build a clinic in Emganwini meaning other wards did not get anything for the whole year. Council is failing to provide such services for the residents so we had to do something as residents,” said Honourable Masuku.
He clarified that although the construction of the clinic was being partly financed by CDF funds, there was strict adherence to guidelines on the use of the CDF.
“We use the CDF as per the priorities given by the communities and also following a needs assessment. We also had a number nutrition gardens fenced and solar-powered through the CDF in wards 24 and 25 as a way of improving livelihoods particularly among the disadvantaged members of the community.”
“CDF money was also used to assist schools such as Ngwenyama, Senzangakhona, Mgiqika and Manondwane Primary schools with donations of bricks, fencing and furniture”, said Honourable Masuku.
The MP dismissed allegations that he was inaccessible and unavailable to attend to constituency matters.
“The biggest challenge we have in the constituency is that people do not attend meetings in numbers so they are left behind in terms of getting up to date information. We share posters and flyers with residents on their community WhatsApp groups but only a handful attend the meetings”, he said.
