Gweru mayor, Martin Chivhoko, has expressed concern over delays in the distribution of devolution and other government funds saying they were affecting service delivery and smooth council operations.
Chivhoko raised the issue to legislators from the Midlands capital who were accompanying Provincial Affairs and Devolution minister Owen Ncube during a recent tour of residential housing projects.
“As local authorities we are facing challenges of late receipt or non-payment of devolution funds,” Chivhoko said.
“These funds are budgeted for in our annual plans, for example, for the purchase of sand filters and transformers to improve water supply but they do not come in time.”
He questioned the criteria used in the allocation of the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara) funds and said Gweru was receiving less funding than some rural local authorities in the province.
“It is disturbing that some rural councils receive higher allocations than us,” he said.
“As a provincial capital this raises serious questions.
“We feel allocations from Zinara should be done fairly so that as the capital city of the province we receive our fair share.”
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Besides devolution and Zinara funds other issues raised include high tariffs charged by the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC), non-payment of council rates by government departments and garnishing of the local authority’s accounts by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra).
Chivhoko appealed to treasury to settle outstanding debts owed by government departments to help improve council operations and service delivery.
“ZETDC is billing us commercial rates straining council financial resources yet we are a non-profit making organisation,” he said.
“We also have Zimra garnishing our accounts at short and sometimes without notice even for minor delays leaving us incapacitated.”
In response Ncube said:” I urge you to formally submit your concerns to my office so that appropriate action can be taken.”
