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Herald Reporter
All 60 rural district councils have given the mandate to their chairpersons to meet President Mugabe to highlight their plight in relation to effectively providing service to the rural folk.
Rural councils operate under the Association of Rural District Councils (ARDC) led by its president and Chivi Rural District Council chairperson Dr Killer Zivhu.
The association’s representatives were yesterday expected to meet Secretary for Rural Development, Preservation and Promotion of Culture and Heritage Dr Thokozile Chitepo to highlight their request.
Dr Zivhu yesterday said rural local authorities needed to have their sources of income restored if they were to offer meaningful service to the people.
“Most rural councils are failing to provide a good service because all our sources of income have been taken away,” he said.
“We used to collect levies from farmers and mining royalties, but all these duties have been diverted to the parent ministries, leaving us with very little to depend on for revenue.
“Even to raise money from licences is now difficult because the businesses are required to first comply with the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority before we can issue them with licences. This makes the process cumbersome.”
Dr Zivhu said all the 60 rural district councils were failing to pay salaries on time because of the constraints they faced in raising revenue.
“This is where the majority of the people live,” he said.
“They contributed immensely to the liberation struggle and to the development of the country after independence. There is need to tell the President their plight.”
Dr Zivhu said the situation was worse in the rural areas when it comes to the state of infrastructure like roads, bridges, clinics and schools.
“Some schools were destroyed by the rains, bridges were swept away and roads were extensively damaged,” he said.
Dr Zivhu said the only meaningful service the rural folks were receiving were from the Presidential Inputs Scheme and the drought relief programme.
He said the rural people will take advantage of the meeting with President Mugabe to thank him for the inputs scheme and the drought relief.
Dr Zivhu said people in the rural areas believed in President Mugabe, but they felt those responsible for highlighting their problems to him were not doing enough.
“Somehow they believe that those who are supposed to communicate to the President have been letting them down,” said Dr Zivhu.
“They believe the President is not getting the correct information. This is the reason why they have decided to send their representatives from councils to him because they understand that all development in their areas goes through their councillors.”
Dr Zivhu said rural district councils wish President Mugabe well as he celebrates his 93rd birthday on February 21.
Meanwhile, Chivi Rural District Council was recently voted the Best Rural Local Authority in 2016 under the Public Sector Management Awards 2016 organised by Stallone Consultancy.
The award came after the district council implemented several projects under what it termed the Village Zim-Asset, which ensured people participated in community development.
The Village Zim-Asset programme was spearheaded by Dr Zivhu and meant to dissect the economic blueprint for implementation at the local level.
Online Reporter