CHAOS erupted during a consultative meeting hosted by Bulawayo City Council (BCC) on Friday last week where the local authority was seeking residents and ratepayers’ endorsement to set up a water utility for the city.
The local authority is planning to introduce a public water utility and it convened a consultative meeting with residents to hear their views on the matter.
However, residents expressed dissatisfaction with council’s decision to call them on short notice without prior notification.
A resident told the meeting that council officials do not respect them, adding that they called for consultative meetings when decisions would have been made.
“They think we are stupid by calling us at most of their meetings to inform us of decisions they have taken on the city's development without hearing our views.
“The problem is that they are trying to put pressure on us to accept their proposal which we are afraid will fail to eradicate the water crisis as they have failed us before,” he said.
However, Bulawayo town clerk Christopher Dube dismissed the allegations sparking outrage from the residents.
“I implore the residents to be wary of the tone they use while addressing council officials as we are way older than some of those asking us questions in a rude manner.
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“The problem we are facing is that residents always listen to advice from other parties concerning our developmental projects and fail to listen to us,” he said.
Dube called on the residents to desist from seeking advice from third parties on developmental projects as they are prone to giving false information with the motive of slowing down development in the city.
The drama continued when Bulawayo deputy mayor Edwin Ndlovu refused to respond to a resident’s inquiry.
“The question which is being asked by one of the residents I answered during my ward consultation meeting so I cannot repeat it because those who were present were given the necessary information,” he said.
The residents refused to be addressed by some councillors accusing them of failing to represent them.
They also accused the councillors of disseminating false information and making decisions on their behalf without their approval.
BCC has proposed the establishment of a water utility to end the ongoing water crisis saying it will help it to secure funding.
