Councils in service delivery crisis Chief director Urban Local Authorities, Ms Erica Jones stresses a point to Harare Mayor, Councillor Herbert Gomba, while Matabeleland North Provincial Administrator Ms Latiso Dlamini looks on at the Urban Councils’ Association of Zimbabwe Local Government Investment Conference at the ZITF grounds in Bulawayo yesterday

Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter

Urban Councils are in a crisis as they are struggling to effectively provide services due to erosion of their budgets as a result of the adverse economic environment, an official said yesterday.

Kwekwe Mayor, Councillor Angeline Kasipo, who was standing in for the Urban Councils’ Association of Zimbabwe (UCAZ) president, Gweru Mayor, Josiah Makombe, said councils were not only failing to provide services but were also failing to procure the necessary equipment due to economic challenges.

Clr Kasipo was speaking at the 78th UCAZ annual conference held at Zimbabwe International Exhibition Centre in Bulawayo running concurrently with Local Government Investment Conference (LOGIC) under the theme: “Urban Local Authorities: Embracing Devolution Towards Attaining Vision 2030.”

President Mnangagwa is expected to address delegates tomorrow.

“I wish to point out that councils have been hard hit by the prevailing macro-economic environment. The prevailing macro-economic environment has completely eroded local authorities’ budgets and their capacity to effectively deliver services. Residents and ratepayers have been equally affected by the macro-economic environment and as such have not been able to pay their bills,” she said.

Clr Kasipo said buying water treatment chemicals, pumps and electric motors were proving to be a serious challenge for urban local authorities. 

“Urban local authorities service delivery is also being negatively affected by shortage of power in the country. Power outages are affecting mostly water pumping and reticulation,” she said. 

Due to the adverse economic environment most councils have come up with supplementary budgets as their initial annual financial plans could not sustain them to the end of the year. 

Clr Kasipo said the conference which started yesterday and ends on Saturday is part of urban councils’ commitment towards implementing Government’s programme in line with the vision to attain an upper middle income economy by 2030.

She said the engagement will provide local authorities and central Governments with a platform to deliberate on policy issues affecting their operations.

Clr Kasipo said LOGIC which is holding its fourth annual conference will also provide a platform for councils to market themselves to investors.

“LOGIC will discuss key investment opportunities as well as explore areas of cooperation amongst different players here. You are cordially invited to tour the exhibition stands to witness the commitment by both local authorities and private sector to jointly move the development agenda forward,” Clr Kasipo said.

She said while councils were working to improve service delivery,  they were not blind to some of their shortcomings hence they working towards addressing them.

Speaking at the same event, Bulawayo Mayor Clr Solomon Mguni said the conference will help metropolitan and provincial councils in implementing devolution programme. “Economic empowerment is one of the pillars that needs to be attained at a local level in order to attain the vision of an upper middle income economy. As a nation we have to be forthcoming in crafting strategies that attract and promote investment,” said Clr Mguni. @nqotshili

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