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Activity update - 16-17 June 2012
Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA)
June 17, 2012

On the weekend of 16-17 June BPRA held three leadership training workshops and four consultative meetings. The leadership trainings were held in Gwabalanda ward 16, in Nkulumane ward 22 and Cowdray Park Ward 28. The Consultative meetings were in Lobhengula ward 14, Pumula South ward 27, Pelandaba ward 13 and Nkulumane ward 25.

The drop in education standards in the region continues to be a burning issue as most residents in all four wards where consultative meetings were held, called on BPRA to address the deteriorating situation.

In Ward 14 (Lobengula) residents complained that school authorities were abusing the hard earned school funds while at the same time failing to account for schemes like the Basic Education Access Module (BEAM) which they said was not benefiting the intended beneficiaries but those connected to school authorities. Residents also complained about the school development committees (SDC) whom they said now connived with school authorities to short change the parents instead of ensuring that they represented the parents' interests in all decisions made by the schools. Residents then called on BPRA to also consider holding leadership training seminars for SDC members to ensure that they understood their role and how they are supposed to execute their duties for the benefit of the communities.

Similarly, residents in ward 27 (Pumula South) complained about the quality of education especially in primary schools stating that although the education sector had improved at a national level, in the last three years, the quality of teaching and lessons still left a lot to be desired especially in the Matabeleland region. Residents complained that teachers now shunned teaching during normal working hours, instead telling pupils to come to their homes for extra lessons where they had to pay extra money for lessons which parents feared could not be monitored.

Rates continued to be a troubling issues as residents in Nketa's ward 25 complained that Bulawayo City Council's estimate billing system was becoming a big problem as some of the charges were too high for them to understand. Some participants at the meeting said despite BCC claiming that each household was allocated 25 drums of free water per month, many ratepayers could not explain why they had such high water bills. BCC has been sending residents estimated bills due to old water meters which it says can no longer give a correct reading of water used by a household. However residents have complained that the BCC's failure to replace the old water meters with new ones in time, is just a method of ripping them off through estimating huge bills which many residents are finding difficult to pay.

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