Question 1: From the several grants given to Zimbabwe for the fight against COVID-19 we have read about in newspapers, has BCC received anything?
Mayor: We have received $10m for renovations at Thorngrove Hospital and a $3,6m for recurrent expenditure. We continue to receive materials for fighting COVID19 from Government without reference to what funding sources were used, except for the donations received from Jack Ma, and other organisations that directly approach Council.
Question 2: Taking note of the fact that new water sources such as Bowsers and community boreholes have become high risk places for contracting or spreading the COVID 19 virus, what measures has the city council put in place to make sure that social distancing is observed and other elements to protect people from spreading or contracting virus?
Mayor: Community boreholes are managed by communities and Residents Associations should assist in stepping up using their structures to organise people. The City of Bulawayo water delivery crews have masks and hand sanitisers which they use during water delivery. They do not wear gloves due to the fact that we emphasise on handwashing or sanitising of hands. COVID-19 is suspected to stick to gloves for longer periods and easy to pass when on latex gloves. The crews are encouraged to frequently sanitise their hands. They have also incorporated social distancing in their operating procedure thus they encourage residents to maintain social distance whenever they do water delivery although this is not easy to enforce due to big crowds at water points. The City has also been conducting awareness campaigns at points where bowsers deliver water. Residents are therefore requested to cooperate with the crews whenever collecting water from the distribution points.
Question 3: In as far as the issues of vendors are concerned, what mechanism has been put in place to ensure that those vendors who have been displaced benefit first? How do we ensure that we first deal with those affected before giving new vendors the bays?
Mayor: The displaced vendors are documented and as such are a priority.
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Source: Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA)
