NewsDay (Zimbabwe)

‘Govt to blame for poor service delivery’

- BY NIZBERT MOYO

BULAWAYO’S ward 25 councillor Aleck Ndlovu has implored government to reconsider its decision to nationalis­e car licensing and power generation, saying this had resulted in poor service delivery in the city.

Ndlovu told Southern Eye that the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) once had its own car licensing department which generated funds for road maintenanc­e.

“The challenge is that the government has nationalis­ed power generation to form Zimbabwe Power Company or Zesa Holdings. We had our own power station which generated enough power for our industry, this is no longer the case,” Ndlovu said.

“We had our own car licensing department, which generated enough revenue for our road maintenanc­e and water drainage system; the government decided to amend the laws and replaced it with the National Roads Administra­tion (Zinara) which is not (disbursing) enough funds for our road rehab(ilitation) programme.’’

According to Ndlovu, roads cutting across the central business district to other part of the city and country are now lacking maintenanc­e because of poor funding.

“For example the area around Belmont area along Plumtree road, that stretch has been made impassable due to potholes. It is a State road and BCC’s hands are tied. We cannot use the ratepayer’s money to fix such roads because they are not enough. The government must re-empower local authoritie­s so that they are able to generate own revenues in order to improve service delivery,’’ he said.

Contacted for comment, Bulawayo provincial affairs director for co-ordination Boetsoarel­o Noko said she needed time to consult on the matter.

“I will need to consult those responsibl­e for power generation and Zinara to get facts and figures before giving a feedback,” Noko said.

 ?? Pic: Zacras via X ?? Participan­ts follow proceeding­s at a Zimbabwe Associatio­n of Community Radio Stations workshop in Masvingo recently to build capacity and bridge the gap between rural and urban citizenry through capacitati­on on misinforma­tion and disinforma­tion
Pic: Zacras via X Participan­ts follow proceeding­s at a Zimbabwe Associatio­n of Community Radio Stations workshop in Masvingo recently to build capacity and bridge the gap between rural and urban citizenry through capacitati­on on misinforma­tion and disinforma­tion

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