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BULAWAYO City Council’s proposal to establish an independent supervisory body to monitor and investigate complaints against its contracted parking management company Tendy Three Investments (TTI) is a complete waste of ratepayers’ money. Rather than funding such a body, the council should insist on TTI bearing the cost of its parking marshals and enforcers’ unprofessional and aggressive behaviour.

It is clear from their daily conduct that most of the TTI parking marshals and enforcers did not go through any form of orientation. They are often rude and offer no assistance to motorists. Instead, they are on the lookout for any opportunity to harass and ambush drivers, especially those who appear vulnerable like senior citizens, women, the weak, sick and disabled.

A case in point is how these enforcers follow a car turning into a parking bay and clamp it if the wheel is on the lane even before the driver alights instead of directing the driver to park properly. This behaviour is unprofessional, aggressive and unacceptable. It is not only infuriating to drivers, but also a clear sign of negligence on TTI’s part.

The promise of advanced parking technology by TTI, when it was awarded the parking tender, is yet to be realised. The company has done nothing unique to ensure sanity in the CBD. Pirate taxis have allocated themselves illegal pick-up ranks and commuter omnibus drivers and touts continue to cause chaos and confusion along 6th Avenue between Herbert Chitepo and Lobengula Street. Yet TTI parking enforcers seem scared of them, preferring to harass the weak.

The council should ask itself why it opted for a contracted parking management company in the first place, only to end up losing out on revenue. The current TTI deal sees the council receiving only 30 percent of the parking money. It is high time the council revised this contract or took over parking management and collected all the parking money. By doing so, the council will have more control over ensuring professionalism and sanity in the city.

TTI should not be running the city parking services if it cannot offer quality service. Parking marshals and enforcers need to be trained and oriented on how to serve motorists professionally, courteously and helpfully. The company needs to be held accountable for its unprofessional behaviour, as the council cannot continue to spend ratepayers’ funds to investigate complaints made against TTI.

The establishment of an independent supervisory body to monitor and investigate complaints against TTI will only add another bureaucratic layer and drain council resources further. Instead, TTI needs to be held accountable and be made to pay for its mistakes.

It’s an unfortunate reality that the current parking service provided by TTI is below par and unworthy of Bulawayo residents who deserve much better. A review of the parking service, a renegotiation of the TTI contract, or the council taking over parking management are all options that need to be examined. The council needs to act fast and decisively to remedy this situation and create a parking service that serves the needs of residents and visitors alike.