Outrage over BCC parking funds

By The NewsDay | Aug. 5, 2022 | 3 Min read

Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association chairperson Ambrose Sibindi said: “The 30% that goes to BCC is not enough at all. How long will it take us to fix the roads in the city? BCC is not being transparent when it comes to this project. We want to know how much has been collected from TTI so that potholes disappear from the roads.”

BY PATRICIA SIBANDA/SILAS NKALA DELAYS by the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) to use funds collected from Tendy Three Investment (TTI) to rehabilitate the city’s roads has sparked outrage among residents.

TTI is charging US$1 per hour for city parking.

Residents feel that the collections are not benefiting them given the sorry state of the city’s roads.

Deputy mayor Mlandu Ncube responded: “We have rehabilitated two roads, namely Nketa drive and Khami Road.

“By the way, parking bays are part of road rehabilitation in the city.”

He said he was not in a position to reveal the figures collected from TTI by council. “The reason why we awarded this company a tender is that we saw that the Zimbabwe National Road Administration had not done much to fix the roads,” Ncube said.

Meanwhile, the Bulawayo High Court has granted former Bulawayo deputy mayor and ward 3 councillor Tinashe Kambarami leave to make an application seeking to set aside his recall from being councillor.

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Bulawayo High Court judge Justice Martin Makonese granted Kambarami’s application yesterday.

“The letter written by the second respondent (MDC-T) to third respondent (Moyo) is declared null and void in as far as it relates to the applicant, as applicant was not dejure or a defecto councillor during that time and could not be recalled,” Makonese ruled.

“The decision of the 2nd respondent to expel or arrive at the determination that applicant is no longer a member of the 2nd respondent be declared unlawful; is set aside, consequently, the letter written by the 2nd respondent to 3rd respondent is declared null and void. Consequently, it is declared that the announcing of the recall of the applicant by the 3rd respondent through the letter dated September 11, 2020 is null and void.”

The court order stated that the fourth respondent (President Emmerson Mnangagwa) and, or his official functionaries, employees, agents or assignees be, and are hereby permanently interdicted from proclaiming a date for the holding of the by-election in ward 3, Bulawayo in terms of section 39 of the Electoral Act Chapter 2:13)

“Consequently, there being no lawful encumbrance to the resumption of applicant’s duties, the 1st respondent (Council) shall immediately admit the applicant to council pursuant to his reinstatement by operation of the law following the judgment in case number SC66/21 on May 27, 2021,” ruled Makonese.

There was no order as to costs.

Kambarami, who was deputy mayor and councillor, was recalled in 2019 by the MDC-T led by Douglas Mwonzora through a letter written to the Local Government minister July Moyo.

Through his lawyer Bruce Masamvu of Masamvu & Da Silva-Gustavo Law Chambers, Kambarami filed an application for declaratory relief citing BCC, MDC-T, Moyo, Mnangagwa and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission as respondents.