Ward 8 residents in Bulawayo say they will use a scorecard system to measure the performance of their elected councillor as they are tired of being used by politicians.
The ward which comprises Barbourfields, Mzilikazi, Nguboyenja, and Thorngrove became vacant following the death of Councilor Ronniah Mudara in 2020.
Speaking during an election debate series which was organized by Center for Innovation and Technology (CITE) in collaboration with Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA), residents said they are tired of fake promises by political parties.
Three candidates managed to attend the debate, Edwin Ndlovu of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), Tobias Nyamhlambanje an independent candidate and Bekezela Ncube of ZAPU.
During the question and answer session, one ward 8 resident said the elected candidate should strike an agreement with the resident that he/she is going to do what the residents want once elected.
“When we elect you, you are representing us, you are going to do what we want you to do, this is the agreement that we want as residents,” said the resident.
“If we have this agreement, we are saying if you are not delivering whatever us the community want, give us the power to go and recall you and we elect another councillor.”
Another resident Thandekile Moyo said they want to use the scorecard system as councillors often forget to come back to the residents once voted into office.
“I am asking from the aspiring candidates to have an agreement that whoever wins, we want to have a community scorecard because we are tired of being used by councillors who want to be voted into power and when they are councillors they change their actions, they don’t even come back to us,” said Moyo. She said once voted in, the councillor starts listening to certain individuals instead of the residents who voted them in.
“They start listening to certain individuals who tell them what to do, as residents we want to do a community scorecard to have an agreement that within the 12 months, the elected candidate will have an agreement with us that they are going to fulfil whatever they promised us today.”
“If we see three months passing without any promise fulfilment we are going to invite CITE and BPRA to call a meeting for us so that you can explain why you are not fulfilling what you promised us because we are tired of being used by the candidates,” said Moyo.
