The scorecard, launched by the City of Bulawayo in partnership with the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works at the Small City Hall on Wednesday, will allow residents to assess service delivery and provide feedback on areas they believe need improvement.
Steven Nkomo, the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association Ward 11 chairman, said the condition of the roads was being worsened by continued use and called for vehicle insurance funds paid by motorists in Bulawayo to be channelled back to the city.
“Our roads are being damaged every day. Even if we try to fix the roads, our roads are being damaged because of the cars that are being driven on the roads. The problem that we now have is that the car insurance that we pay no longer goes to the City Council but it now goes to the central government, and then, once that is done, Bulawayo is given a small amount of income to maintain the city. What we are asking for is that the car insurance for the Bulawayo cars gets paid in Bulawayo and not the central government so that we can receive that money and be able to fix our roads. As long as the money keeps on going to the central government, the roads will never be fixed,” said Nkomo.
“Pertaining to potholes, there has been a high rate of potholes in the city, a lot of cars are being damaged by these potholes. I told the councillor for my area that we need to put sand to cover these potholes and we will find our own gravel. It will be difficult when I’m going to the hospital and then my car gets damaged by the potholes on my way to the hospital, we really need council assistance,” said Sibanda.
Isheanesu Gumbo, a resident of Cowdray Park, said the lack of proper roads was contributing to poor relations between residents and the local authority.
“There are no roads to talk about, we don’t have roads as Bulawayo. The relationship between us and the City Council is not good because we pay our taxes and we do not receive the services, we are the ones who suffer at the end of the day,” said Gumbo.
Bulawayo City Council Acting Town Clerk Sikhangele Zhou said the scorecard was intended to give residents a direct way of identifying areas where the local authority was failing to provide adequate services.
“This is why the government created this platform so that the residents can help point out to us where we are lacking and where we are not responsive. This platform is being launched so that on your phone we can answer the questions. For instance, residents have been talking about the poor conditions of the roads, but if you go to our AI report survey, you will find out that there are no good roads. The report says we must address the emergency responses such as water and things to do with fire breakouts, so in terms of the road rehabilitation, let’s keep the responses as honest as possible because we cannot improve if we do not address the situation. We will attend the emergency responses and leave the road because we will deem that roads are not urgent because people will not be honest,” said Zhou.