Facilitate post-budget indabas, committee told

only be confined to the pre-budget period, but there should be a post-budget engagement with stakeholders, a parliamentary portfolio committee has heard. Captains of industry, residents and local authorities told the Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion that there was need for a feedback after the presentation of the national budget.
This came out during the committee’s pre-budget meetings held in Marondera, Mutare, Chiredzi, Masvingo and Beitbridge last week.
Makoni West MP, Mr Webber Chinyadza (MDC-T), chaired the committee during its outreach exercise that was being sponsored by the Southern African Parliamentary Support Trust. People said the Committee, together with Treasury, should engage stakeholders after a budget presentation, explaining to them its implications and discuss why certain issues would not have been included.
The committee was told that it was of no use to engage people during the pre-budget era and fail to come back to the people for a feedback after the budget presentation.
Chiredzi business development association secretary-general, Mr Kennedy Javangwe, said they participated in pre-budget consultations over the years, but have never been briefed on what became of their submissions.
“We need a feedback on what would have happened to our submissions,” he said. “There is need to arrange post-budget meetings the same way you are doing on these pre-budget consultations.” Mr Chinyadza said while they felt it prudent to make a feedback, resource constraints remained a major challenge. In Mutare, residents demanded that a breakdown of the 2012 national budget implementation be first made before consultations for the 2013 national budget.
Beitbridge business development association chairperson, Mr Salatiel Muleya, said people expected a feedback from the committee.
He complained about lack of local radio and television reception in the area and its surroundings. “We now listen to South Africa radio and television so much that if you ask a child who the president of Zimbabwe is, he will tell you that it is Jacob Zuma,” he said.
Beitbridge Senator Tambudzai Mohadi urged Government to prioritise livestock production and irrigation in the drought prone area.
She said a certain percentage of revenue generated from Beitbridge should be used to develop the area.
People in most areas visited by the committee called upon Treasury to prioritise agriculture and resuscitation of companies. They accused Finance Minister Tendai Biti of sabotaging agriculture to create an impression that new farmers failed.
Masvingo Mayor Femias Chakabuda said Government should resuscitate the Cold Storage Company.