Budget deadlock: Ball in BCC’s court

Source: Budget deadlock: Ball in BCC’s court | The Sunday News

Minister Daniel Garwe

Vusumuzi Dube, Deputy Radar Editor

BULAWAYO City Councillors will this Wednesday meet to fine-tune its long-awaited 2025 budget after the Government gave firm indications last week that it would approve the budget.

The city’s has been operating in limbo following a directive late last year from the Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC), Dr Martin Rushwaya, that the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works should not approve the council’s US$309 million 2025 budget due to glaring anomalies in its formulation.

Subsequently, the ministry set up a special budget committee, which included council representatives, members of the business community (as represented by the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries — Matabeleland Chapter, and the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce), all three registered residents’ associations, tertiary institutions and tourism stakeholders, tasked with revising the 2025 budget based on the 2017 audited figures.

Last Thursday, the Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Daniel Garwe met council officials, councillors as well as the business community with the hope of ironing out issues and having the budget eventually approved.
Minister Garwe tasked a three-member committee made up of his ministry’s chief finance director, a finance expert from the CZI and the local authority’s director of finance, to immediately start working on the grey areas raised and present a position by last Thursday.

Daniel Garwe

In an interview with Sunday News yesterday on the progress of the approval of the city’s budget, director of communication and advocacy in the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, Mr Gabriel Masvora revealed that after the input of the technical committee, it was now up to the local authority to effect the necessary adjustments.

“The technical team comprising BCC, business and residents which the Local Government Ministry chaired, agreed to rationalise several tariffs.

“Now it’s up to BCC to make the necessary adjustments and statutory requirements before submitting the final document for the minister’s final decision which hopefully is this week,” said Mr Masvora.
Bulawayo Town Clerk, Mr Christopher Dube confirmed they now had a final document which they will be presenting to the city’s councillors on Wednesday during the full council report.

“We cannot send the final budget figures to the ministry without them being endorsed by our policymakers, so since on Wednesday we are having our full council meeting, we will be presenting the new tariffs to the councillors, after which we will then forward these to the ministry for possible approval,” said Mr Dube.
Bulawayo is the only local authority that has not had its budget approved after ratepayers raised concerns about its 2025 budget.

Ratepayers have questioned the city’s figures, which they claim result from incorrect calculations stemming from the council using the wrong formula to index the 2022 and 2023 tariffs to the US dollar.
Another sticking point emerged following a request for the council to disclose its salary bill was met with stiff resistance from its representatives on the special budget committee.

The impasse led to the two parties eventually going their separate ways, with the council calling for a special meeting, which resolved to cut business shop licences and sports and social club tariffs by 30 percent.