The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube, Municipal Reporter
THE Bulawayo City Council and Umguza Rural District Council have reportedly signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) bringing to an end a war between the two authorities that has seen a number of suburbs located in the outlying areas of Bulawayo failing to get key services like water and sewer reticulation.
Confirming the latest developments, BCC spokesperson Mrs Nesisa Mpofu said the two authorities have finally reached an understanding. She revealed that they were already setting aside funds to connect Umguza and Emthunzini suburbs.
“Yes, there is a council resolution to the effect that BCC will service Mbundane and Emthunzini suburbs with water and sewer reticulation. In the short term we require about $900 000 to connect these two suburbs but in the long term we require about $10 million to connect other outlying areas that are under Umguza, like Rangemore. Under the agreements Umguza RDC will retain the rates for the land while we will recover our money through water and sewer charges. However, we will soon have an all stakeholders meeting to discuss the finer details of this arrangement,” said Mrs Mpofu.
The two local authorities have for the past years been at each other’s throats regarding the possible expansion of the city with Umguza accusing BCC of trying to illegally take over land under their jurisdiction. Residents in the outlying areas which include Mbundane and Emthunzini have for over 10 years been operating without key amenities with BCC refusing to connect them to their water and sewer reticulation arguing that the suburbs do not fall under their jurisdiction despite them being located just at the boundary between the City of Bulawayo and Umguza.
The move brings to an end a fight between the two local authorities over the ownership of this land with BCC at one point accusing Umguza RDC officials and land developers of building houses close to the border between the two councils and expecting BCC to provide services to those areas.
Umguza RDC on the other hand were accusing BCC of arm-twisting land developers that were interested in constructing houses close to the boundary of the two councils on the side of Umguza to seek voluntary incorporation for the council to award them subdivision certificates and connect them to the city’s water and sewage reticulation.
The matter had been escalated by the development of Mbundane and Emthunzini suburbs, whose incorporation into the master plan of Bulawayo had courted controversy as neither of the local authorities wanted to accept responsibility of both suburbs. The move is also seen as part of efforts by BCC to expand the city and identify new areas for its growing population. Last year they announced that they were working at upgrading a number of illegal peri-urban settlements, formalising and putting in place the requisite infrastructure required for them to house proper development.
Some of these informal settlements that were targeted for upgrading included Cabatsha, Trenance, Ngozi Mine, Durnkirk, Willsgrove and Killarney.
The list also included two suburbs; Mbundane and Emthunzini. Further according to the Presidential Proclamation 15E of 2004 and the subsequent Statutory Instruments that created the metropolitan provinces of Bulawayo and Harare, metropolitan boundaries were declared as covering a radius of up to 40 kilometres, most of these areas are currently under the jurisdiction of Umguza RDC.
