The elderly people in Bulawayo are likely to enjoy free parking in the city centre if the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) agrees to a plea by the Tendy Three Investments (TTI) executive chairman Lizwe Mabuza to exempt them from paying parking fees.
Mabuza was speaking at a handover of 1200 food parcels to vulnerable community members in Bulawayo on Tuesday.
The donation is valued at US$33 000.
Mabuza said they have listened to various concerns about the parking management system they are implementing in the city centre and will attend to the issues raised.
One of the concerns raised by the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) and the Bulawayo Residents Association (BURA) was that elderly members of the community were finding it difficult to pay parking fees.
“We have heard from BPRA and BURA saying look at our elderly, our pensioners are getting their pension fund from NSSA. How can you make a pensioner pay for parking? Even my conscience does not agree to that,” he said.
“City council, I know I am talking at a platform where haven’t discussed this. We are governed by by-laws in this environment but surely if we come with a request, can we have these adjustments here and there, because we are walking with our community. “
Mabuza admitted that the company has not handled well their engagement with the community.
“We admit that we have not been forthcoming with our public relations, hence people have been coming with various suggestions and certain complaints yet we have not been responding to them. We are saying to the people of Bulawayo, we are here to listen to you, this is your initiative,” said Mabuza.
He also dispelled reports that they were a South African company saying the company is run by Zimbabweans and is registered in the country.
“The only thing South African about this initiative is that our machines were acquired in South Africa. The investment is also coming from South Africa. There is a lot of misinformation that we are here to take people’s money and move it to South Africa,” said Mabuza.
Mabuza said because of their love for Bulawayo they will listen to concerns raised by various stakeholders.
“As we speak right now, our IT department is working 24/7 trying to put that module that allows people to transfer their minutes from one bay to another,” he revealed.
“We are hoping that come tomorrow (Wednesday) when you are on the streets, our motorists are able to transfer their parking time into the next bay.”
