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Leonard Ncube, [email protected]

VICTORIA Falls City Council is facing financial challenges due to low cash inflows as a result of failure by rate payers to honour their bills and rates on time.

However, city management says it has been able to implement some of its key projects mainly through partnerships including installing the city’s first ever traffic lights  on the intersection of Livingstone Way and Pioneer Road.

The intersection used to have a semi-traffic circle until a few years ago when Pioneer Road extension was constructed leading to the new Engen service station.

The area was prone to road traffic accidents.

The local authority presented its mid-year budget review recently to update stakeholders on projects done so far and challenges being faced. City treasurer Mr Neville Ndlovu said while the council has managed to push progress through partnerships, it faces perennial water challenges, shortage of housing caused by lack of land for expansion as the city is surrounded by national parks and growth in tourism, which puts pressure on available accommodation as well as communication challenges between the council and stakeholders.

The city came up with a US$20 million budget for 2023 and payments are done in all currencies.

“Our collection is below 50 percent of our billing and that affects our performance as we really struggle in terms of cash flows,” he said. 

“Most of our services are cash-based and suppliers demand payment upfront in cash terms, which makes things difficult,” said Mr Ndlovu.

He said the city’s expenditure with reference to the wage bill had ballooned in the first six months of the year.

For instance, council expected to spend $1,9 billion by June but this had risen to $2,5 billion as the wage bill increased due to new positions that were filled up this year. 

During the period, the city expected to bill $9 billion by June and only collected $4 billion with debtors owing $7,2 billion while creditors are a mere half a billion dollars.

The council was allocated $161 million from the Zimbabwe National Road Administration (Zinara) and had received $75 million by June with a  number of road projects underway. The city was also allocated $850 million Devolution Funds and has received $96 million.

“Our budget was benchmarked in United States dollar terms and we have tried to convert our income on the rate of the day on date of billing,” said Mr Ndlovu.

The review meeting was meant to take stock of what has been done and update stakeholders in line with good corporate governance so as to update all ratepayers on budget performance.

Deputy mayor Councillor Patricia Mwale said the review process also helps councillors appreciate the work that management is doing.

“This is one of the meetings we believe as council is very critical in terms of mapping and shaping where we are going,” she said.

Residents said the council should improve its relationship with stakeholders by giving feedback. 

Victoria Falls Combined Residents Association chair Mr Kelvin Moyo said continued engagement will improve relations and performance of council.

“We applaud council for coming up with the feedback meeting, which informs how we are going to attend the upcoming budget meetings,” he said. 

“This improves relations and we really appreciate this engagement and it must continue in that order. 

“We want this city to be a destination of choice with services that attract tourists because they will be guaranteed of safety,” said Mr Moyo. — @ncubeleon