Rural councils take begging bowl to Govt

RURAL district councils are appealing to Government to come up with a special development grant to enable them to fund development projects given their limited revenue base.

The president of the Association of Rural District Councils of Zimbabwe, Dr Killer Zivhu said councils were realising very little from ratepayers given the rural people’s limited income.

In an interview, Dr Zivhu said councils were at times forced to increase rates yet the ratepayers were already struggling to pay the existing rates. He said it was because of this realisation that councils were proposing the introduction of a special grant from central Government that councils could use to fund development projects in their areas.

Dr Zivhu said economic challenges facing the country were crippling the operations of RDCs given the fact that the rural people were the worst hit.

“There should be a grant for rural development which should come from central Government if councils are to improve service delivery. The problem is that there are no industries under our jurisdiction like what is obtaining in urban areas, “said Dr Zivhu.

He said most roads in rural areas were in a deplorabe state and councils were struggling to raise money to rehabilitate them.

Dr Zivhu said the District Development Fund which was supposed to rehabilitate the roads did not have the resources.

He said councils could not depend on donor funding as such assistance usually comes with conditions.—@ PrinceNkosi102