By Paul Nyathi|Fired up Gwanda Residents on Thursday morning dismissed a joint budget consultation meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Budget and Finance and the SDGs Committee in just under twenty minutes accusing parliament of wasting their time.

Led by firebrand Gwanda Residents Association Secretary General Bekezela Maduma Fuzwayo, the residents told the high powered delegation of parliamentarians to pack up their bags and leave the town as government has never listened to any of the contributions they make to the national budget formulation.

“We have been raising the same issues to the government for years and none of these have ever been considered for the budget,” said Fuzwayo.

“We do not have confidence in your whole process and therefore move that you end this meeting and go back and check our contributions from all the years back.”

The only four speakers who contributed to the consultations demanded government to show commitment to their submissions by constructing the perennially flooding narrow Mtshabezi River Bridge in the town which was constructed in the fifties.

“How can you honestly expect us to continue making submissions on your budget every year when you fail to carry out a small project as construction of a bridge?” questioned Fuzwayo before seconding that the meeting ends at that juncture.

The residents demanded that as an alternative, government should prioritise the devolution of power implementation which would allow them to decide which projects to prioritise in the development of their areas.

According to the residents the current centralised government has always marginalised Matabeleland region while taking all the riches from the region to Harare.

After dismissing the meeting, the residents tried to force march the parliamentarians to visit the Mtshabezi River Bridge about a kilometre away from the venue, a move which the legislators declined to comply with.

Drama ensued after that as the residents blocked the parliamentarians bus from leaving unless they commit to passing through the site of the bridge.

The parliamentarians were locked inside the bus for over an hour as the Chairpersons of the two committees Honourable Mathew Nyashanu and Senator Mtshane Khumalo negotiated with the residents leader for the release of the parliamentarians.

It took an intervention by the Gwanda Central Member of Parliament Patrick Dube to calm the residents who eventually allowed the bus to leave.