The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube, Municipal Reporter
BULAWAYO City Council has acceded to demands from councillors to pay off more than $8 000 in telephone bills for two councillors, a move likely to place the local authority at loggerheads with residents.
According to a council confidential report, Ward 28 councillor, Monica Lubimbi and Clr Collet Ndhlovu of Ward 29 had each written to the local authority seeking assistance in settling their landline telephone bills, arguing that they were using them to conduct council business. Clr Lubimbi’s debt had ballooned to $8 220 while Clr Ndhlovu owed TelOne $2 582. TelOne had disconnected both councillors’ telephones and was threatening legal action if the bills were not settled.
“According to information availed by TelOne, although Clr Lubimbi’s phone service was connected in 2002, the debt was accumulated between January 2009 upon dollarisation and the time the account was terminated in June 2012, a period of 42 months. Clr Ndhlovu’s was connected in August 2009 and terminated in November 2012 a period of 40 months,” reads the report.
The report further states that council had to negotiate with TelOne to effect a 40 percent discount for each of the councillors which saw Clr Lubimbi’s debt reduced to $4 941 while Clr Ndhlovu’s debt reduced to $1 811.
For the discount to be effected council should have cleared the debt by last Thursday, with council sources revealing that the councillors endorsed the move on Wednesday and the finance department was ordered to make the payment on Thursday morning before the expiry of the reprieve.
“Councillors accepted the councillor’s explanation that the bills were caused by the fact that they were using the telephones to conduct council business. These two councillors both have no offices in their wards and hence had to rely on the use of their homes as offices, which is why this motion was passed, it was felt that they could not lose their properties all in the name of doing council duties,” said the council source.
Contacted for comment, the city’s Town Clerk, Mr Christopher Dube defended the move saying this was a request which after going through they felt was above board.
“This request has been outstanding for over five years. What happened is that other councillors have been using phones from our housing offices to conduct council business but unfortunately these two did not have any offices and had to use their personal phones for this purpose.
“When they made the request we then asked them to come up with an itemised bill to prove that indeed they were using the phones to conduct council business, we then looked at other councillors during that period how much we were paying as monthly telephone bills in their offices, of which we then averaged the figures, which is the amount we are paying for these councillors,” said Mr Dube.
However, residents have taken a swipe at the councillors accusing them of being selfish and abusing residents’ hard earned money for self enrichment.
Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association co-ordinator Mr Rodrick Fayayo said it was such acts that the Government should investigate.
“Firstly who accumulates a bill of over $8 000, it is clear that someone identified a loophole and decided to abuse it. What council business does a councillor do for over $8 000, clearly this councillor was conducting personal business. The timing of the request for assistance is also suspicious.
These councillors know that their terms are coming to an end hence they had to fast track this issue as they know that if they lose they might just lose their properties to TelOne,” said Mr Fayayo.
