BCC motto ‘Si Ye Pambili’ no longer relevant

IF there is a motto that can be adopted by the City of Bulawayo in place of “Si Ye Pambili” (Let us go Forward), it’s the unofficial Milton High School prefects’ motto: “Order First, Liberty

Last.”

There is no going forward in Bulawayo. Siye Phambili is a Rhodesian motto that has lost currency in the new Bulawayo.

The city is now dirty, disorderly and stagnant in old derelict buildings. Even public parks and community centres have been let to die.

The main park, once the major attraction in the city, has since been turned into a bus rank by unruly transport operators, most of whom are not from Bulawayo.

There is no going forward in a city where parking bays have been turned into car wash stations and vendors sell their wares everywhere.

This is why council finally decided to revive the parking system in the city centre. The parking system was long overdue as roads and order have to be maintained.

Yet, on Monday, a group of Bulawayo residents including those operating businesses in the city centre converged at the Large City Hall to present a petition to council over the privately administered parking system.

Bulawayo City Council (BCC) and residents must find each other on the issue of parking in the city centre. The conflict has been going on for too long.

But order first! Let’s clean up the city. Parking charges can be reviewed later.

BCC in partnership with a private company, Tendy Three Investments (TTI), introduced the new parking system in February after Cabinet approved the US$2 million Bulawayo Vehicle Parking

Management System.

BCC approved the company’s tender application last year on July 10. Under the arrangement, council receives 30 percent of the collected parking fees while the company gets 70 percent.

Paid parking is from 8AM to 5PM from Monday to Friday and 9AM to 1PM on Saturday at US$1 per hour. There is free parking on Sundays and public holidays.

This is how proper cities, the world over, are run. The real tragedy which demands a demonstration by residents is the free rein given to transport operators who have turned the city into an eyesore.

Where are those ugly buses parking? Why are minibuses blocking the streets?

When a Chronicle news crew visited the City Hall on Monday, scores of residents had gathered and were carrying placards with messages denouncing council. Some of messages read: “We want affordable parking”, “Parking fees too expensive” and “We demand good service.”

Bulawayo has not had public toilets for decades, yet residents have not protested. People now drink outside bottle stores and urinate all over the city.

Passengers are picked and dropped off anywhere and everywhere. What type of a city is that?

The parking system is the only good thing to have come out of City Hall in a long time.

Let’s pay the US$1 for now; order first. Parking charges can be discussed later; liberty last.

Bulawayo needs clean roads, new buildings, investment, infrastructure, water and order.

Above all, Bulawayo is currently desperate for competent leadership and serious residents.

Chronicle

THURSDAY, August 24, 1972 — A Roman Catholic priest, Thadeus Franz Stojecki, was accused in the regional court, Bulawayo, yesterday of illegally importing into Rhodesia a $3250 Mercedes-Benz car from a foreign country. He pleaded guilty to contravening the Customs and Excise Act and was fined $400 (or four months), $300 (or one month) of the sentence being suspended.

Stojecki, who is head of Ekusileni Mission, Filabusi, said the car had been sent to Rhodesia by his brother as a gift to the church.

He told the magistrate, Mr L C Mino, that he had taken vows of poverty and had no personal belongings as a member of the congregation. He said that after reaching Rhodesia, the car was taken to a city business man, who, it was arranged, would keep it for some time before it was sold.

The money would then go to the mission. Stojecki said the question of customs duty had not entered his mind. He believed new immigrants were allowed to bring their cars into the country without payment of tax. Mr B Buffenstein, prosecuting, told the court the car was brought into Rhodesia in March this year in the name of a new immigrant.

It was taken through Forbes Border Post from Beira and driven to Umtali and then to Bulawayo. On March 16, Stojecki and the immigrant approached customs officials and went through all the formalities. Mr Clive Loxton, a customs officer, said the immigrant, Dr Gabriele Katharina Koethe, said the car belonged to her and that she was going to work at Fatima Mission Hospital, Lupane. Dr Roethe said she was asked last year to take a car into Rhodesia, She was told then that the car belonged to a Mr Herman.

She said she saw the car in January, and brought it to Rhodesia when she came out as an immigrant mission worker, Dr Koethe said she was met by Stojecki, who drove her through the border to Umtali. On March 16 she and Stojecki went to the customs office, Bulawayo, and a false declaration was made.

Dr Koethe said she knew that the declaration was false. She said that after going through the formalities, Stojecki drove her to Fatima and that was the last she saw of the car. Mr Mino heard that when the value of the car was assessed in Bulawayo, it was found to be $3 250. Customs duty was $1 604 and import tax was $485.

Stojecki was represented by Mr M A Greenfield (Webb, Low and Barry).