BY NDUMISO TSHUMA
Youths in Bulawayo have criticised the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) for not prioritising youth issues in their budget allocations.
Speaking at a meeting organised by Project Vote 263 in the city on Tuesday, the youths voiced several concerns regarding the local authority’s handling of youth programs and services.
Tafadzwa Muchacha stated that the City Council does not effectively seek funding for youth programs, as outlined in their policy objectives. Muchacha argued that it is the council’s mandate to secure funding for young people but expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of action by the City Council.
“The City Council does have the capacity to fund youth programs. According to their policy, drafted in 1957, objective number 8 states that they should facilitate funding for youth programs, including budgeting for capital and revenue projects, soliciting funding on behalf of NGOs, and assisting public-private partnerships and applications to benevolent individuals. It is the council’s mandate to seek funding for young people, but nothing has been done. They have no excuse for not having funding as they are supposed to seek it,” said Muchacha.
Daniel Sibanda noted a lack of focus on activities that directly benefit the youth population.
“The City Council seems not to prioritise activities that the youth want. They find funding for other priorities, but none of the funding benefits the youth,” said Sibanda.
Ishmael Gumbo said the council must improve in sharing information and responding to inquiries from residents. Gumbo called for better engagement between council members and the community.
“Key communication is something that the City Council must develop. We must be able to contact city council members when they release a new policy, and the council members should provide the required information. Most, if not all, do not answer their calls and never communicate,” said Gumbo.
Sthabisiwe Mabuza suggested a new approach to assessing the council’s services by using scorecards to rate their performance. Mabuza stressed the importance of providing constructive feedback to the Council based on specific service ratings rather than submitting complaints.
“In Pumula South, we scored their services out of 10 and provided suggestions on what we want. Whenever you think of sitting down with councillors, you can use petitions, yes, but we used scorecards. You need to score the Council and say, for this service, we are giving 3 out of 10 for their performance. Sometimes we just complain to the Council without rating their services. I believe services should be rated,” said Mabuza.
Angela Masuku highlighted the need to hold both local authorities and the Ministry of Local Government accountable for utilizing allocated funds effectively. Masuku urged increased awareness and scrutiny of how funds are being utilized to benefit the community.
“We forget that there’s a Ministry of Local Government that works hand in hand with local authorities. Sometimes you may realize that funds are channelled towards the Ministry of Local Government, but we tend to ignore those guys and focus more on the Local Authorities, yet they also receive money that is supposed to work for Bulawayo. We need to hold those people accountable and say, as a Local Government, you’re also given money, but what exactly are you doing with that money?” said Masuku.
