Government approves most council budgets

Zvidzai, said between 90 percent and 95 percent of local authorities’ proposed budgets had been approved except for a few rural district councils.
“My ministry has approved the 2012 proposed budgets for most local authorities except for the few rural district councils.
“We are happy with their budgets and we have already written letters to the local authorities confirming our satisfaction with the budgets,” he said.
Last year, the ministry ordered local authorities to submit their 2012 proposed budgets before 30 November for approval.
Deputy Minister Zvidzai could not be drawn into revealing the rural district councils whose budgets had been rejected.
“Some of the rural district councils have a shortage of manpower and as a result the ministry did not approve their proposed budgets.”
He said the local authorities would soon start implementing the budgets when the Attorney General’s office gazettes them into law.
“At the moment, the approved budgets are now with the Attorney General’s office for gazetting into law so that the respective authorities can implement them soon,” he said.
A civic group, the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations, has slammed Bulawayo’s 2012 proposed budget for not being pro-poor as it did not address pertinent issues affecting residents, such as the housing backlog.
This year’s budget focuses on increasing charges for the council’s services like water provision, sewage reticulation, solid waste management and property tax.
The city proposed the highest increase in solid waste management where high density suburbs ratepayers are expected to fork out $4,25 from $1,14 while the charge in low density suburbs has been put at $6,35 from last year’s $1,71.
In the past, residents bemoaned erratic waste disposal and the city council has said it intends to ensure that refuse collection is done four times a month.
The local authority is presently collecting garbage once a month.
Recently, ratepayers have struggled to clear their bills, a development that has contributed to low revenue collections.
It is against this background that Bulawayo is owed more than $60 million by ratepayers.
This has prompted the local authority to embark on enforcement procedures such as issuing summons and attaching property to recover outstanding bills.