BULAWAYO City Council is owed $31,4 billion by residents and other ratepayers and this has affected service delivery, Mayor Solomon Mguni has said. In a Christmas and end of year message, Mayor Mguni said 2022 was a difficult year for the city.
“The year 2022 presented many challenges to the City of Bulawayo as municipal service delivery was negatively impacted by the national economic climate. Regrettably, many consumers failed to fulfil their financial obligations to the council.
“Recipients of council services, which is Government, industry, commerce and residents continue to default in the payment of services leading to challenges in sourcing service delivery inputs thereby negatively a ecting service delivery.
” He said as at November 30, council was owed $31,4 billion and encouraged rate payers to come up with payment arrangements to clear their debts.
“As a Council, I assure you of our unwavering commitment to the provision of improved municipal services in 2023. To achieve this mandate, we must each recommit ourselves to the development of the city.
I encourage the people of Bulawayo to continue to work as a strong team,” said Mayor Mguni. He said there is a need to strengthen stakeholder engagement to enable everyone to contribute to the development of the city.
“ is will see Bulawayo becoming a world class municipality and playing an increasingly in uential role on both the national and international stages. In the coming year, council will enhance its e orts in the creation of a clean and environmentally friendly city.
Plans are underway to improve collection of refuse from residential and commercial area, as well as the Central Business District,” he said. Clr Mguni said council recently bought a refuse compactor vehicle to improve collection of garbage in the city. He said community engagement and participation will also be intensi ed with the intention of improving service delivery and promoting sustainable development.
Mayor Mguni said Bulawayo’s water crisis is a re ection of the adverse e ects of climate change. e city is implementing a daily water provision strategy due to declining water levels at the city’s supply dams and power outages are worsening the situation.
“The effect of climate change is being felt in the country as we continue to face droughts and poor rainfall. We are however hopeful that this year’s rainy season will be bountiful. Provision of water is erratic and is worsened by power outages which are a ecting pumping and water treatment.
“ The city regrets the inconvenience caused. May you please bear with us and we promise to do everything in our power to minimise the problem. Engagement with relevant stakeholders is ongoing.” Clr Mguni said strides have been made to improve access to housing through servicing of residential stands.
“The provision of land for housing development was one of the major priorities in 2022. e City of Bulawayo implemented various housing projects which saw stands being sold to applicants on the housing registry.
The City of Bulawayo allocated 498 stands as follows: Pumula South 117 (pre-sale), Emganwini 267 and 114(under private developers)” he said. Mayor Mguni said the council remains committed to good governance and will not entertain corrupt dealings and under[1]performance.
He called on members of the public to report any underhand dealings involving council sta to help eliminate corruption in the city. – The Chronicle
