City council’s revised 2025 budget rejected, again

BULAWAYO City Council’s revised 2025 budget has once again been rejected by the Government after failing to adhere to set guidelines, further deepening the financial impasse affecting service delivery in the city.

The initial US$309 million budget was first turned down late last year after the Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Dr Martin Rushwaya noted anomalies in its formulation.

Following this, the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works established a special budget committee to oversee the revision process.

The committee included representatives from the council, the business community —through the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (Matabeleland Chapter) and the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce — registered residents’ associations, tertiary institutions, and tourism stakeholders.

However, sharp disagreements arose when stakeholders demanded that the council disclose its salary bill.

The council’s representatives resisted this request, leading to an impasse and the eventual breakdown of discussions.

Subsequently, the council convened a special meeting where it unilaterally resolved to cut business shop licences, sports, and social club tariffs by 30 percent before resubmitting the revised budget. Despite these adjustments, the budget was once again rejected.

The business community argues that councillors were not fully informed about the objections raised by stakeholders before approving the tariff reductions. A key sticking point is a sharp rise in council labour costs, which increased by 104 percent from US$53 million in 2017 to US$108 million in the 2025 budget.

Ministry of Local Government and Public Works’ director of communications and advocacy, Mr Gabriel Masvora yesterday confirmed that the BCC budget came through but it did not meet the ministry guidelines.

“The guidelines were clear that all the parties involved must append their signatures as proof that everyone was happy and consented to the new position. The document submitted by the council did not contain that,” he said.

“Instead, it only had signatures from the council which showed that other parties are still not in agreement, the same position which led to the initial budget not being approved,”

To bring the two warring factions together, a high-powered delegation from the Local Government and Public Works’ head office will be in Bulawayo on Saturday to meet the two parties and try to bring closure to the impasse which is now threatening service delivery.

Bulawayo acting provincial director for Local Government, Mrs Fikile Marovatsanga confirmed the meeting for Saturday.

“The two parties are still not in agreement regards the city’s 2025 budget so a high-level delegation from head office will meet the two parties on Saturday and hopefully have this matter resolved once and for all,” said Mrs Marovatsanga.

The prolonged budget impasse is already affecting service delivery, with the city’s waste management suffering as a result. Council recently cancelled contracts for more than 20 private refuse collection companies operating in the central business district, leading to mounting piles of uncollected garbage.

However, refuse collection services in western suburbs remain operational.

The private collectors had been engaged to clean streets, sanitary lanes, and business premises, while those servicing the western suburbs were emptying waste into council-owned compactors for disposal at the Richmond Landfill, commonly known as Ngozi Mine.

Bulawayo remains the only one among Zimbabwe’s 92 local authorities yet to have its 2025 budget approved, nearly three months into the year. The situation is particularly pressing as the city prepares to host the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) in just over a month.

The ongoing dispute has also drawn concern from Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Judith Ncube.