By Glory Msowoya
Blantyre City Council (BCC) has expressed concern with the growing property vandalism by unscrupulous individuals, arguing that it was becoming costly to rehabilitate.
Director of Town Planning and Estates Services, Costly Chanza told Malawi News Agency (Mana) Friday that the issue of vandalizing City properties was getting out of hand and it was affecting the operations of the council.
“The issue is very serious; we do have problems in the city because people are still vandalizing properties. For instance we have had many street lights poles and sewer infrastructure system being vandalized by the communities and as am saying vandalism costs a lot to the tax payers and all citizens,” he said.
Chanza called on residents to have the responsibility of taking care of city properties as one way of dealing with some of the problems that rise due to the damaged properties.
“At this stage, there is a need to stop the blame game and join hands to arrest this problem. Residents should take responsibility of public facilities that the council erects in the city. If the council and the residents can work together, vandalism can be stopped.
“There is need to report to law enforcers any suspicious people in our communities. The council is losing a lot of revenue replacing these vandalised facilities instead of channeling the little available resources to new development initiatives,” he said.
A member for Namiyango Ward Committee, Robert Nyathango vowed to continue educating the communities in the ward as one way of helping the council in dealing with the tendency of vandalism.
“The concern from BCC is valid; people are vandalizing city properties but that is inhuman. As for Namiyango Ward, we try our best to sensitize people on the importance of taking care of City properties and will continue doing that for the betterment of this City,” he said.
Recently, Blantyre City Council (BCC), Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM), Malawi Telecommunications Limited (MTL) and Blantyre Water Board (BWB) collaborated on Anti Vandalism Campaign as one way one of minimizing cases of vandalism in the country.
