shloboe boe
Sikhumbuzo Moyo, [email protected]
BULAWAYO ratepayers will have to wait longer for the announcement of the city’s 2025 budget after the recently formed budget review committee missed its January 7 deadline.
The delay has been attributed to the Bulawayo City Council’s (BCC) slow progress in providing crucial documents and initially delegating junior staff to the committee’s first meeting.
The local authority was compelled to revise its proposed 2025 budget following widespread criticism of its controversial tariff adjustments. The adjustments reportedly stemmed from the council using an incorrect formula to index 2022 and 2023 tariffs to the US dollar.
In early December, the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works convened a meeting at the council chambers to address concerns raised by the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI), the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC), and two major residents’ associations. The meeting, chaired by the ministry’s director of local authorities inspectorate, Ms Priscillar Mudzinge, resolved to establish a budget review committee.
The committee comprises representatives from industry, residents’ associations (Bulawayo Residents Association, Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association, and Residents Chapter), tourism players, and tertiary institutions. Chaired by Residents’ Chapter chairperson Mr Thamsanqa Ndlovu, the committee was tasked with revising the budget within a week and presenting it by January 7.
Following a progress review meeting on December 30, 2024, Mr Ndlovu revealed that a technical team of experts in statistics, mathematics, computer science, and accounting had been selected to analyse the council’s financials, budgets, and tariffs.
However, the council’s failure to provide all the requested information hindered the team’s work.
“At the special committee progress review meeting on December 30, 2024, the technical team reported that some requested information is still outstanding. Council representative committed to providing the necessary information by December 31, 2024, with the rest on January 6, 2025,” said Mr Ndlovu.
“Due to the pending information, the technical team won’t be able to meet the initial deadline of January 7. A revised target date for completing the review process will be announced once the outstanding information is received.”
The revised budget will reportedly be based on 2017 tariffs.
In September 2024, BCC presented a US$309 million budget for 2025, focusing on service delivery, gender-specific projects, and revitalising recreational facilities.
However, the Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Dr Martin Rushwaya, directed the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works not to approve the budget until concerns raised by the business community regarding the 2024 budget were addressed.
He stressed the need for the council to engage with the business community, noting that the concerns raised by CZI were invaluable and required urgent attention.
CZI Matabeleland Chamber accused BCC of using an incorrect formula under Statutory Instrument (51) 1184 of 2022, which mandates indexing goods and services prices to the US dollar and converting them to local currency using the prevailing bank rate.
This miscalculation led to exorbitant charges, prompting some companies in Bulawayo to reduce operating hours or relocate to other cities.
Despite numerous meetings involving CZI, BCC officials, and Bulawayo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Judith Ncube, no resolution was reached, resulting in a stalemate.
daniel chigunwe
