Online Reporter
Vusumuzi Dube, Deputy Radar Editor
BULAWAYO councillors are reportedly failing to attend key committee meetings, blaming it on low sitting allowances and ‘inadequate’ fuel allocations.
The concern was raised in a confidential council report dated June 25, 2026, which noted a “concerning trend” of non-attendance by some councillors at committee-level meetings.
The Chamber Secretary, Mrs Sikhangele Zhou reported that councillors were required under local authority regulations, including the Urban Councils Act (Chapter 29:15), to attend Full Council and Standing Committee meetings to deliberate on municipal affairs.
However, the report said some councillors had raised concerns over low sitting allowances, which they said limited their motivation to attend committee meetings.
Council is currently guided by a July 15, 2025 circular from the Minister of Local Government and Public Works, which sets sitting allowances at US$177 for ordinary councillors, US$195 for the
Deputy Mayor and US$212 for the Mayor.
The current rates are significantly different from previous arrangements in which councillors’ allowances were linked to the salary of a Grade One council employee.
Councillor Siboniso Moyo said councillors were also struggling to attend meetings because of inadequate fuel allocations.
“It was becoming difficult for the Councillors to attend all the Council/Committee meetings because of inadequate fuel allocations,” the report said, adding that she felt the fuel allocation or allowance should be revised upwards.
Clr Sikhululekile Moyo, supported efforts to improve councillors’ welfare but raised concerns over a proposal to provide motorcycles to councillors.
She noted that some councillors in other local authorities had failed to repay motorcycle loans and argued that the same arrangement should prevail in Bulawayo.
The report said councillors’ allowances were regulated under Section 112(1) of the Urban Councils Act, which allows a municipal or town council to pay councillors personal allowances determined by the council, subject to approval by the Minister of Local Government and Public Works.
Council subsequently resolved that councillors should be paid in line with the previous allowance structure, which was linked to the salary of a Grade One council employee.
The resolution will now be communicated to the Minister of Local Government and Public Works for approval.
