MDC-T president Douglas Mwonzora says his party is in discussion with its councillors in Bulawayo over the city’s parking management system with a view to making it easier for the motoring public.
The smart parking management system is managed by Tendy Three Investments (TTI), in partnership with the Bulawayo City Council (BCC).
Ever since its implementation on February 18, 2022, the motoring public has been unhappy with the “exorbitant” costs charged by TTI and BCC, saying the US$1 per hour charge was too much.
Motorists complained that they were paying a full one dollar for each parking bay across the city.
After protestations from the public, residents associations and a petition filed by ZAPU, TTI and BCC upgraded their parking system to allow motorists to transfer their parking minutes to other bays.
Despite this move, the public is still unhappy with the system, saying it’s still not friendly, evidenced by empty parking bays across the Central Business District.
Addressing journalists at the Bulawayo Media Centre on Tuesday, Mwonzora, claimed the party was engaging councillors on the issue.
“I’m aware of course of certain issues regarding parking. We were discussing with some of the councillors with a view of making things easier for the common man and the common woman who is the consumer of hose services, that is people of Bulawayo,” he said.
Mwonzora said the party would find a working solution.
“We are very sure that a solution is going to be found for the interests of Bulawayo,” said the MDC-T leader.
“We also want to know the interests of the people of Bulawayo. You can send a blind sms, or a blind WhatsApp message on how you think we should deal with this issue.”
The party leader said MDC-T did not want to compromise service delivery in the city.
“Let me make myself very clear, we don’t want service delivery compromised by any of our councillors. We don’t accept that,” Mwonzora said.
“We want our councillors to assure us that service delivery is uninterrupted and undisturbed in Bulawayo.”
He added that the party was going to receive a report from the MDC-T Bulawayo provincial team on how the city council was performing.
“From the brief that I got Monday when I met the provincial leadership, we are going to receive a report as the Standing Committee of what may be going on or not going on in Bulawayo City Council,” Mwonzora claimed.
“As far as we are concerned the interests of the Bulawayo people ranks supreme in our considerations. We are going to make decisions based on what is in the best interests of people Bulawayo.”
