Back to Index

Residents' voices
Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA)
February 12, 2010

Editorial

The nation has again been thrown into yet another dark era as civil servants resort to industrial action to have their demands met. Whilst a lot of people will sympathize with the government because of its empty coffers, equally many people sympathize with civil servants. The ZESA bills, Telone bills and the local authority bills, school fees and the general cost of living leaves civil servants with a legitimate cause.

To make maters worse the media in Zimbabwe is replete with cases of massive looting free for the elite venture, inherent corruption at parastatals and the decision by the government to continue to abuse taxpayers funds by paying for so many students for so much money that could be used to alleviate the plight of civil servants. As a result most schools in Bulawayo were closed and pupils asked to go back home and most government departments closed.

For Zimbabweans to believe that there is no money, everybody should be seen sacrificing and not one section of the community sacrificing for others. A case of "we are hungry not because there is no food but because others have decided to have our share".

Residents discuss use of community development fund

Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association shall from this week convene meetings at ward level to allow residents to input into how they think the constituency development fund should be used. This weekend meetings in ward 26, which is under the Nketa constituency, and ward 15 under Luveve Constituency shall be attended by the area councilors, Members of Parliament and Senators. The document will be used by the Association to lobby and advocate for the inclusion of residents' concerns and aspirations as to how the money is used.

Engendering local democracy

This week two meetings have been set to discuss the priorities for women in the new constitution. The meetings to be held in Mabuthweni under Mpopoma constituency and Mgiqika Primary School under Nkulumane constituency. Leaders from the church, civic society operate in the constituency, business community organizations and arts groups shall dialogue with residents and in map out ways in which residents' voices can be further amplified and their concerns met. The meetings are expected to provide a platform for consensus building amongst the women leadership in constituencies.

BPRA brings together stakeholders to discuss environment

Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association this week brought together organisations that have been carrying out clean up campaigns and environmental awareness programmes around the city of Bulawayo. The meeting held at the council chambers of the Bulawayo City Hall, brought together the initial 5 organisations namely Bulawayo City Council (BCC), Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA), Zimbabwe Development Democracy Trust (ZDDT) and the National Youth Development Trust (NYDT) and the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Association (ZCIEA). Amongst other things discussed in the meeting included ways of collaboration and exchange of information on activities carried around the city for the purposes of avoiding duplication. Organisations also discussed coming up with award to be known as the "Cleanest Ward of the Month". The award seeks to reward wards that practice environmental friendly initiatives. Against that background organisations set up teams to look into issues of the composition of the adjudicators, mechanisms for judging and possible funding for the rewards. The competition is set to kickstart in April during the trade fair period.

For more on the convention and results visit www.bprazim.org

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP