Back to Index

General Council Meeting resolutions
Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA)
December 03, 2010

General council meeting resolutions

Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) held its General Council Meeting on Sunday 28 November 2010 at the Bulawayo Agenda Democracy Centre. The General Council was attended by 80 residents representing chairpersons and Secretary for Administration for the 29 wards of Bulawayo, the Executive Council and the Board. The General Council was held to evaluate the activities of the association in 2010 and also make final preparations for the 2010 residents Social Accountability Conference to be held at the Large City Hall on 5 December.

The General Council made the following resolutions on pertinent developments in the City of Bulawayo. These recommendations shall guide the programming of the association in the coming months.

Resolutions

Indigenisation

Residents noted that the indigenisation law was meant to cripple the labour movement by facilitating companies' takeover by party functionaries who will employ people from one political party or discourage them from participating in ZCTU's activities. In addition to that residents noted that there was a general disregard of the principle of indigenisation as local communities fails to benefit from the companies taken over. Against this background, residents resolved that advocacy initiatives aimed at making sure that locals benefit from companies taken over and those companies are not taken over by party functionaries for party purposes.

Industry

It was decided that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce should be called upon to explain why companies are relocating from Bulawayo. The ministry should be asked to explain what it is doing to counter this trend. This follows a troubling trend whereby companies continue relocating from Bulawayo to Harare leaving people in Bulawayo with fewer employment opportunities and the city developing at a snail's pace.

Bulawayo City Council (BCC)

Firstly, it was resolved that the city council must be pressured to review its policy of engaging private developers into the city as they charge exorbitant prices. This is meant to de-commercialise the sector so that ordinary residents can afford to buy properties. Private developers are strictly out to accrue profits and hence charge prices that are beyond the reach of most residents in the city. As long as private developers are at play, rich people will continue to own multiple properties while poor people will have nothing.

Secondly, delegates resolved that council must be engaged in to stop water disconnections for people who have outstanding bills. Residents noted that water is a universal right that every person should have access to hence city council should not disconnect anyone.

Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA)

Delegates resolved that further action should be embarked in to get ZESA to comply with the Competition and Tariffs Commission (CTC) ruling to reduce tariffs by 43%. Delegates resolved to take legal action against the parastatals and continue staging demonstrations until ZESA complies with the demands of the residents.

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