Harare budget castigated

Council budget.
He said council deliberately failed to focus on service delivery, but dwelt on self-enriching.
Minister Chombo said the US$272 million being proposed was a “thumb-sucked” figure as it did not relate to what residents and ratepayers were paying.

He described the budget as “false” adding that the city fathers had to go back to the drawing board and incorporate residents’ input.
Residents’ associations and some councillors have already criticised the budget saying it was more of a “salary budget” while others said it was a “cut and paste” document of the previous budget.
“The budget has been made public and has become a cause for concern before it even comes for approval. They are deliberately ignoring service delivery and are busy creating cartels at the expense of the residents,” he said.

About US$112 million, which is 41 percent of the total budget, has been earmarked for salaries and allowances. This means council has again failed to comply with Government’s directive pegging remuneration at not more than 30 percent of revenue.
“The ministry has already indicated to them that they should have the ratepayers at heart but we have already seen a false budget.

“The budget is not realistic in that they have not yet collected the US$260 million they stated last year and are even not going to reach that amount by year-end. They now want to repeat that same mistake next year.”

Last year’s budget was US$260 million and council admitted residents had failed to finance it.
Minister Chombo said the budget should come for approval after residents have exhausted examining it. The budget, he said, was silent on “cardinal” issues such as water and sewer reticulation.
“These key issues are non-existent in the budget. By coming with such a figure obviously they want to justify their hefty salaries and allowances,” he said.

“It is common knowledge that the Unicef window (to help with water treatment chemicals) is ending this year but there is nothing to show that they have budgeted for water.”
He said the city fathers were ripping off ratepayers by making them fund the whole budget.

“If it goes to residents they would critique it and question the hefty salaries. It seems the council management relies heavily on foreigners but that is wrong because you cannot fight a war on borrowed hands. If you do that you are guaranteed of losing,” he said.