Bulawayo councillors have demanded the central government hand over the road rehabilitation program to the local authority citing that the contractors were doing a substandard job.
This came out during a full council meeting, Wednesday, as they deliberated on the progress of the Emergency Roads Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP2).
Bulawayo was allocated Z$625 million (about US$7.2 million) for the rehabilitation of its road network which is in a deplorable state due to years of neglect.
The city fathers said that the manner in which the government is handling the project defeats the purpose of devolution.
The councillors blasted the government for sidelining local companies in favour of outsiders who were doing a shoddy job.
Deputy Mayor, Ward 1 Councillor Mlandu Ncube was concerned that locally based companies were never given an opportunity to benefit from this project, yet tenders were awarded to business people from outside Bulawayo.
“Your Worship, we cannot have a whole government coming into our city to do mere pothole patching. That is something that we can do on our own. We expect the government to do major works here, proper rehabilitation of roads,” said Cllr Ncube.
“We have more than enough companies that we have worked with over the years on these kinds of jobs. Even our own residents can do a better job. It would even be better because they will be benefitting directly. Right now the city is filled with people who do not have our best interests at heart, who are doing a substandard job.”
Ward 11 Councilor Pilate Moyo, fumed that Masiyephambili Road had been cordoned off for rehabilitation only to be later left untouched while the contractors focused on other roads.
“Your Worship, residents in Emakhandeni are demanding answers that even we as council do not have. Their road was just closed, we all thought it would get fixed but now the contractors have moved to other areas. No one is communicating with us on the progress. Their work is being done in a haphazard manner and it is defeating the whole purpose,” Cllr Moyo said.
Ward 4 Cllr Silas Chigora reiterated that the government should have consulted the local authority before embarking on the projects in order to confirm which roads to prioritise and which local companies to engage for the job.
“The government should have at least talked to us. I said this last month in this same meeting and today I’m repeating myself. Procedure was not followed. We should have flighted tenders and allowed the most suitably qualified companies to get this tender. Can the office of the Mayor and the council management engage the ministry and have this issue solved,” said Cllr Chigora.
Mayor of Bulawayo, His Worship Cllr Solomon Mguni concurred with the sentiments, citing that the manner in which the ERRP2 project was being handled was not satisfactory.
Mayor Mguni said the central government was being a political competitor to the urban council authority.
“The central government is a political competitor to urban local authorities and at the end of the day it us who remain accountable to the residents should the project not yield the intended results,” said Mayor Mguni.
“We need to be very clear to the people and explain to them that these are their devolution funds and ZINARA funds and if they are misappropriated the local authority will take the fall for it. As city council we are capable of employing our own local companies to do a much better job.”
Ward 6 Cllr Tawanda Ruzive said the least the government could have done was to engage the council engineers to supervise the work they were doing.
“When I first saw these people working on the roads, they had no PPEs, no cones to control traffic, they were just working. They couldn’t even get one council engineer to supervise them. When they leave and there is something wrong, the people answerable will be our engineers yet they are being sidelined,” said Cllr Ruzive.
