The Mayor of Bulawayo, Councillor David Coltart, has remained steadfast in opposing a motion to spend US$300 000 on an arts festival next month saying the council desperately needs funds to provide water to ratepayers.
This follows reports that the Bulawayo City Council (BCC)’s finance committee budgeted US$300 000 for the Bulawayo Arts Festival.
The request to fund the festival was tabled during a meeting held on April 23. The festival is set to be held from 2 to 5 June, after the commemoration of Bulawayo Day on June 1.
In an interview with Southern Eye, Coltart, however, denied that he walked out on councillors after they failed to agree on the matter. He said:
I expressed my view and then gave my apologies and left to go to another meeting. I didn’t walk out. It was a perfectly amicable debate going on.
Bulawayo is currently under a 120-hour water-shedding programme after it decommissioned the Mzingwane Dam.
Coltart, who was the Education Minister during the GNU era (2009-13), said all council resources should be diverted towards ensuring that the local authority doesn’t run out of water. Said Coltart:
This year we are facing major water shortages. For example, we have to raise US$15 million to rehabilitate the pipeline, and although we have had promises from the government, we have not received the money yet. We must divert all possible resources towards ensuring that we don’t run out of water.
As you know, many people, particularly in high-density areas, are at best getting water one day a week. That is going to worsen. Our dams are sitting at 39% at the end of the rainy season.
Because of that, we must ensure that all possible reserves that are not used, for example, for the payment of salaries and critical services are directed towards the water crisis.
As soon as things are stabilised, we will do all in our power to adequately fund arts and culture.
The Bulawayo City Council recently requested the government to declare the city a water crisis area to allow for the mobilisation of international support for short-to-medium-term solutions.
However, the government rejected the request, saying its technical team was still studying water levels at the city’s supply dams.
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