adminLeonard Ncube Victoria Falls Reporter
A meeting between Victoria Falls Municipality and tourism operators protesting against a 500 percent hike in service charges ended prematurely after Zimbabwe Tourism Authourity chief executive officer Karikoga Kaseke declared a stalemate when a council official accused him of presiding over a kangaroo court.
The Victoria Falls business community dominated by tour operators, hotels and lodges threatened to withdraw their various charity work and developmental projects in the resort town after council hiked rates by more than 500 percent.
Kaseke flew into the resort town on Wednesday in the company of Zimbabwe Tourism Council chief executive Paul Matamisa to try and find common ground between the two parties.
Kaseke and Matamisa on Wednesday met the two feuding parties separately and yesterday they met both parties at a combined meeting.
Yesterday’s meeting ended abruptly after town treasurer Thembinkosi Khumalo referred to the gathering as a kangaroo court, angering Kaseke who immediately ended the meeting.
We feel as a local authority we’re in a kangaroo court because there’s one person who is using authority to persecute us. We should register our concern,” said Khumalo.
Kaseke interjected while Khumalo was still speaking, saying he was agitated by his statement.
Town Clerk Christopher Dube asked the town treasurer to withdraw his statement, but he refused.
A seemingly agitated Kaseke, then abruptly ended the meeting.
“No, no, no, if you say that I get agitated. I came here to solve an issue I was told about. I’m in tourism and I know that there’s nothing you can do better than public relations which is why I’m talking about mending your relationship,” he retorted.
“Now I’m being accused of presiding over a kangaroo court. I’m declaring this meeting a deadlock and I’ll update the superiors so they meet at a higher level. The meeting was meant to find a solution and I don’t want to be accused because I’m a reasonable person but I can be too bad sometimes if you try me”.
In an interview after the meeting, Kaseke said he will take up the matter with the executive.
“The issue here is that council has hiked rates by 562 percent. From a tourism point of view that’s killing business because those rates aren’t sustainable. Operators are willing to pay at least 35 to 50 percent which is still high but they understand that council is in need of money,” said Kaseke.
“The council followed procedure but erred in not considering objections and as CEO of tourism I feel these rates aren’t good at all as they threaten business in this tourism capital”.
He said he would report to the Minister of Tourism and Hospitality industry Walter Mzembi who will engage the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Ignatius Chombo.
In the meeting, representatives of the business community accused the council, particularly Dube, of using mafia style tactics.
They said he had threatened to close hotels if they refused to pay the new rates, where some would end up paying between $11,000 and $15,000 per month.
Online Reporter