Tendy Three Investments (TTI), the company managing Bulawayo City Council’s (BCC)’s smart vehicle parking system has said it is not responsible for fixing parking fees.
This follows a public outcry on the US$1 per hour charge, which was initially for 30 minutes with stakeholders describing them as exorbitant.
Some residents have said the deal is a disadvantage to the local authority.
Opposition ZAPU has also petitioned the local authority, while one city lawyer has filed court papers suing both TTI and BCC for their administrative ‘failures.’
There were also those stakeholders who felt the deal should be suspended until meaningful consultations had been done.
However, speaking on CITE’s Breakfast Club, an online programme Friday, TTI chairman, Lizwe Mabuza said his company was not responsible for fixing vehicle parking fees.
“Tendy Three is not responsible for these charges, we are just a technology partner while Bulawayo has come in with its by-laws so we just fit in, in those by-laws, we are not changing any laws, and we are not allowed to do that,” Mabuza exonerated his company.
“I would ask Ndlovu (Ndumiso Ndlovu, BCC acting Senior Traffic and Security Officer) to explain to the public where the issue of paying a dollar comes from. However, what has to be made clear to the public is that we are not the ones fixing those charges per an hour.”
Mabuza said it was unfortunate that TTI had been criticised for those charges.
“We have been blasted for charging US$1 for 30 minutes and now for one hour,” he said.
“All that is being handled by the City Town Planning Department who do what they call zoning of the city. There are peak hour demand and off-peak hour demand spaces. We had just fitted into how the city is demarcated according to how prices are fixed but the owners of the prices are the City Council.
Speaking during the same programme, said parking fees were fixed in relation to the areas’ proximity to the central business district.
