The ManicaPost
Abel Zhakata Senior Reporter
ALL the 32 urban councils in the country are operating in the red because they are collecting less than 50 percent of bills charged, a situation that has led to poor service delivery and non-payment of salaries. In separate interviews on the
sidelines of a performance improvement planning workshop for town clerks held in Nyanga on Wednesday, the chairman of the Town Clerks’ Forum, Mr George Makunde, Urban Councils Association of Zimbabwe secretary-general, Mr Livison Mutekede and the chief financial advisor in the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Mr Alfa Nhamo, said residents were resisting to pay rates because they were being excluded from the budget formulation process.
In a bid to salvage the decaying situation, the local authorities have thus set January 1 as the deadline to submit their 2017 budget proposals to Government, emphasising on the need for heavy community involvement to minimise defaulting.
Mr Makunde said councils were coming up with alien decisions that were frustrating communities.
“The ministry noticed that as local authorities we are not up to scratch when we talk of consultations with the community and as a result the community and council are not in agreement. There is bad blood which has resulted in residents resisting to pay rates. Now, we have agreed with the ministry that there must be massive consultation happening during budgetary formulation,” he said and added:
“This workshop is also putting in place mechanisms that will see us enhancing community participation in order for the residents to own the budget. As soon as the residents own the process, automatically we will minimise the number of defaulters caused by resistance.”
Mr Makunde said it was impossible for the local authorities to collect 100 percent of all the rates they charge, but collecting below 50 percent, as is the case at the moment, was disastrous.
“You cannot be guaranteed to collect 100 percent. In a society there are number of variables that will militate against that, but the bottom line here is that we should agree on certain milestones and developments targets that we need to achieve as a community and as a local authority. If you agree, as one, on the course of action to take against defaulters that should not come as a surprise to those found wanting. It is wrong for me to wake up as a town clerk and tell the community that we are going for debt collection without consultation. We need to achieve at least 60 percent or 70 percent in rates collection, but that is only possible if we talk to the community and not come up with arbitrary decisions.”
Mr Makunde said the cordial relationship that now exists between the ministry and urban local authorities was conducive for improved service delivery.
“The warm relationship that now exists between urban local authorities and the mother ministry is quite encouraging. It is a milestone and we are speaking with one voice unlike previously when we were muzzled. As local authorities, we now want to take charge of our position in the macroeconomic fundamentals. We should a play a role in reviving industries in our areas of jurisdiction,” he said.
Mr Nhamo said local authorities must come up with realistic budgets that have the input of communities they serve.
“We have introduced Integrated Results Based Management in local authorities and we have Zim-Asset which must be driving service provision. All those things should be put together and the planning process which leads to budgeting should actually embrace everything. We are outlining to the local authorities the expectations of the ministry in coming up with their budgets. Councils must come up with budgets that will improve service delivery and this only happens when they talk to the community, plan properly and come up with realistic figures,” he said.
Mr Mutekede said councils urgently needed to improve on areas of water and sanitation.
He said local authorities must be innovative and venture into new forms of business than solely waiting for revenue from ratepayers.
“We have agreed that we have to be innovative in the face of the adverse economic environment. It’s a fact and it’s known that defaulters will always be there. Our members have to be innovative and support local economic development. They need to improve the economic well-being of their communities because that’s where the money for rates payment comes from. They should be public-private partnerships and resuscitate dying industries,” he said.
The local authorities will in October hold an investment conference that is aimed at rejuvenating dying industries countrywide.
