BULAWAYO – Solomon Mguni, the MDC Alliance councillor for Ward 23, became the new mayor of Bulawayo on Friday.

Mguni beat Norman Hlabano (Ward 26) by 17 votes to 12 and will be deputised by Tinashe Kambarami (Ward 3) who edged Mlandu Ncube (Ward 1) by 16 votes to 13 following a vote by all the 29 councillors.

Mguni takes over from Martin Moyo, who lost to Kambarami in the MDC Alliance primary elections in Mahatshula. He stood as an independent on July 30 and lost again.

The election of a new mayor had been aborted earlier in the week after the council was advised that moving it to the Large City Hall to accommodate more people in the public gallery would be illegal as all council meetings must be held in the Council Chambers.

In his acceptance speech, Mguni called on Bulawayo residents to join hands with him and “make Bulawayo great again.”

“The council that I lead will collectively work to deliver a fair, equitable, quality and efficient service to the residents of Bulawayo. Social amenities in particular, water sanitisation, refuse collection, functional clinics, street lighting and pothole-free roads will be at the centre of my administration,” Mguni said.

He pledged regular citizen engagement meetings and employment of modern communication technology to provide feedback to residents.

Residents, he said, will decide how their finances are spent.

“I will institute a services benchmark and institute a responsive remedial independent complaints mechanism. Together, we shall make Bulawayo a smart city,” he pledged.

In a speech laden with rhetorical flourish, Mguni vowed that Bulawayo would be “regenerated, repaired, refurbished and most of all remodelled.”

He would tackle the housing backlog by inviting building societies and private developers to partner with the council, but “we will not tolerate land barons.”

“Bulawayo will not only be open for business but I pledge to ensure that management and staff facilitates and pushes new investments in real time.”

Bulawayo is cosmopolitan, he said, and “we must celebrate our diversity and make it a dividend.” Tribalism, nepotism and corruption would not be tolerated.

Social cohesion, he insisted, was “important for progress” and “opportunities must be availed to all”.

“Bulawayo has an identity; a rich history and we must learn that King Mzilikazi built a nation from several ethnic groupings and thus residents must live in harmony. There are no secondary residents in the city. We have a duty to unite our people,” the new mayor said.

He wants to rid the city of “the menace” of hawkers in the CBD by creating incentives and promoting small businesses.

Bulawayo must lead in “the devolution revolution”, he said, pledging to make the decentralisation of government envisaged in the new constitution “work”.

An economic blueprint would be drafted with input from council management, business and former mayors to chart a path to economic prosperity for the city.

The city will augment its water supply to new suburbs without running water, he said, citing Cowdray Park “which comes to mind in terms of service backwardness”.

The council will also explore solar technologies to reduce the power bill.