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In an interview on Tuesday, Cde Ndlovu who is also the Deputy President of the Senate, said when he took over, as Mayor in 1981, being a councillor was not about economic benefits, but serving the people.
His comments were prompted by the ongoing infighting among the Bulawayo City Councillors over the lucrative General Purposes Committee posts.

The posts come with attractive perks that include all expenses paid trips on council business.
The General Purposes Committee is made up of chairpersons from council’s seven standing committees.
“The clearest difference between today’s council and the one we had soon after independence is that back then we cared about rates being affordable to the people, but now it is more individualistic and councillors care about what they are being paid,” said Cde Ndlovu.

He said now councillors did not have a set framework to reduce tariffs to make them affordable to the elderly and the under-privileged groups in society.
“During our time we investigated what was causing   tariffs to go up or what was bringing down our   expenditure because we were always guided by the view                                               that the rates should be affordable to the ratepayers,” said Cde Ndlovu.

He said in the 1980s councillors did not get “competitive” allowances, as it was mainly voluntary.
“We did not get allowances that were equal to  professionals or anyone in the job market, but now what  they are getting is more competitive to a point that they will rather give up their jobs and opt to be full time councillors,”   said Cde Ndlovu.

He said being a councillor was now a full time occupation.
“These days you hear of councillors sitting down to discuss their allowances and some of their benefits. I think that is not the core business of council.
“Instead they should make tariffs much more affordable and at the same time working out ways of reducing council expenditure,” said Cde Ndlovu.

He said councillors should also pay tariffs, as they had a mandate to contribute meaningfully to the council’s coffers like any other resident.
Cde Ndlovu said councillors should be worried about raising adequate funds to pay council workers.
“Back then we valued the workers and we were guided by the labour laws, but now you hear the talk of strikes and so on,” said Cde Ndlovu.

On licensing, Cde Ndlovu said licences to operate businesses in and around the central business district (CBD) were being issued clandestinely.
“Today it is people who have the money who get  licences to operate shops and at times one has to belong to a particular political party to get the licence which is grossly unfair,” he said.
Cde Ndlovu said the incumbent councillors could not separate politics from the civic duties.

“It is very painful to see what is happening because in the end it is the vulnerable groups in society such as the elderly who suffer as they are no longer cared for,” said Cde Ndlovu.

He said during his time as mayor residents from suburbs such as Makokoba were exempt from paying rentals.
“Most of them had paid rent for 20 years or more so we considered the fact that the amount they had paid for 20 years was 10 times more than the value of the building so we asked them to just pay for service delivery such as water, roads and waste management,” said Cde Ndlovu.

He said during his term in office he managed to develop suburbs such as Emakhandeni and Lobengula West.
“As a leader I cannot judge anyone but it is for the people  to say who was a better leader because they are the ones who   are suffering from the policies and actions of their leaders,”  said Cde Ndlovu.