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Nqobile Bhebhe, [email protected]

BULAWAYO Mayor, Councillor David Coltart, has made a startling admission that previous opposition councillors have in the last 20 years plundered municipal resources at the expense of service delivery.

Cllr Coltart of the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) said his colleague’s motivation in getting elected to council is to use their positions to allocate themselves stands.

He said he has observed the appalling trend playing out in the last 20 years.

Bulawayo council has been controlled by the opposition since 2 000 at time in which service delivery plummeted to great depths.

Addressing Bulawayo civic society organisations on Tuesday, Cllr Coltart said: “As we get elected as councilors, we are not here to see what stands (residential/industrial) we get for ourselves or what benefits we might get for ourselves by virtue of our positions.

“I have watched with astonishment and a sense of deeply appalled in the last 20 years as the opposition in control of this council has used its collective position to get preferential access to stands and other benefits and in so doing have completely demeaned the office of councilor and the city council,” said Cllr Coltart.

During his election campaign messages, Cllr Coltart was consistent in alleging that there is rampant corruption within the local authority.

“If I am to sum up my vision for the city, it is to clean up Bulawayo. It has become clear in my mind that one of the reasons why Bulawayo is not working is because of corruption, which has become endemic,” he said.

“Bulawayo is not working because of corruption, it is driving away potential investors. I want our city to have more investments and we can do that by eradicating corruption, which has become endemic.”