Councils warned over devolution funds

Freedom Mupanedemo-Midlands Bureau

Some local authorities have been warned over neglecting their council duties while hiding behind Government-sponsored programmes.

This was said by Minister of State for Midlands Provincial Affairs and Devolution Larry Mavima this week after making an impromptu visit to Tongogara Rural District Council to assess the local authority’s progress in implementing devolution funded projects and their own projects.

It emerged during the visit that the rural district council has only met 28 percent of its budget in this last quarter of the year.

On the other hand, it also emerged during the Minister’s visit that Tongogara RDC had completed about 90 percent of the projects which were being sponsored by the Government under devolution and Emergency Roads Rehabilitation Programme.

Acting chief executive officer for Tongogara, Mr Pinius Chiguvari, who struggled to justify why the council was poorly performing, attributed the poor performance to low revenue flows due to Covid-19.

“The lockdown resulted in us cutting down on staff to 10 percent which made it difficult for us to collect revenue effectively,” he said. “Most staff members are also in acting capacities which makes it difficult to make critical decisions.

“We have been having a nightmare in getting a database for mines operating here, but the ministry has promised to help us out.” 

Minister Mavima said local authorities should not only wait for Government to fund their projects, but should also use their own budgets to spearhead development for the country to swiftly achieve Vision 2030 to become an upper-middle-class economy.

 “Tongogara RDC used to be the shining star,” he said. “Recently, we have seen a decline in service delivery by the same. We need to find the root cause for the decline, but surely you can’t use Covid-19 as the cause of your failure.” 

Tongogara RDC suspended its chief executive, Mr Brian Rufasha, on allegations of corruption about three months ago.

Council treasurer, Ms Sithembiso Ndiripo, has since been fired on the same charges.