BULAWAYO Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) has questioned the city council’s decision to award former mayor Martin Moyo a mayoral car as part of his exit package.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
BPRA yesterday said the move was a way to poke fun at the struggling ratepayers who clashed with the local authority for diverting money to purchase a mayor’s vehicle, which was now being given for free.
“BPRA believes this indicates that the city council is out of touch with the reality and fails to understand the gravity of the matter pertaining economic hardships that have hit Zimbabwe and are bound to negatively affect Bulawayo City Council (BCC)’s revenue collection,” BPRA spokesperson Zibusiso Dube said yesterday.
According to a council confidential report, council’s financial director, Kimpton Ndimande, recommended that Moyo be given two options — a Mazda BT50 for free as it had no book value — or purchase a Chevrolet, which is also part of the mayoral fleet, for $14 732.
“BCC, which complains that low revenue collection is the cause of service delivery shortfalls, now seeks to virtually give away vehicles from its mayoral fleet, is indicative of a lack of sincerity, poor prioritisation of issues and lack of probity in the administration of Bulawayo’s financial resources,” Dube said.
The city fathers have, in the past, clashed with residents over its priorities regarding the expenditure of ratepayers’ money.
