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City fathers call for prioritisation of fire and ambulance services

Bulawayo Deputy Mayor Mlandu Ncube has called on the local authority to educate residents on the importance of fire and ambulance services in the city.

Speaking during the latest Full Council meeting, Cllr Ncube noted that the department was not getting enough prioritisation during the drafting of the city budget.

According to the 2022 proposed Bulawayo budget, Fire and Ambulances were placed on number nine of the priority list.

The local authority currently has 6 ambulances but ideally should be having a fleet of 36.

He said the finance committee was mandated to hold meetings with residents and explain to them the importance of these services.

“The engineering and finance committees need to strategise on how to engage residents and other stakeholders on the importance of fire and ambulance services. It seems like whenever we do budget consultation meetings we give the impression that this department is not important, hence it is always at the bottom of the priority list,” Cllr Ncube said.

Ward 1 Councillor Mlandu Ncube

Ward 4 Councillor Silas Chigora concurred that fire and ambulances must be prioritised considering the prevalence of fires around the city.

Councillor Silas Chigora

“Residents could be encouraged to pay fire and ambulance levies. We understand that we cannot force residents to have insurance but if we talk to them they may understand that we could jointly have insurance for this. That way we may be able to mitigate a lot of factors,” said Chigora.

“Just recently there was a fire reported at a school in Magwegwe and later on it was discovered that there was a grenade at the school. It is against such background that we need to ensure that we have enough resources to cater for fire and ambulance.”

City Mayor Cllr Solomon Mguni reiterated the importance of prioritising the department.

He suggested that the council committees look into the issue and come up with ways of levying the funds to ensure that the city property is protected.

Bulawayo mayor Solomon Mguni

Tanaka Mrewa

Tanaka Mrewa is a journalist based in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. She is a seasoned multimedia journalist with eight years of experience in the media industry. Her expertise extends to crafting hard news, features, and investigative stories, with a primary focus on politics, elections, human rights, climate change, gender issues, service delivery, corruption, and health. In addition to her writing skills, she is proficient in video filming and editing, enabling her to create documentaries. Tanaka is also involved in fact-check story production and podcasting.

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