Divisions over budget expose Vic Falls Council
RECENT events in Victoria Falls around the town’s 2020 budget should leave any observer pondering where the town is headed. A meeting in the council boardroom last Friday would have gotten any visitor asking whether residents are really following behind the city fathers or are chasing after them.
The division among residents is apparent. On one hand is the Victoria Falls Combined Residents’ Association (Vifacora), which has found common ground with the council not to reduce rates. On the other hand are disgruntled residents who feel let down by the residents’ association, councillors and municipal management.
But the million dollar question is: “Are the concerns about the council budget genuinely driven by the need to make sure residents are not burdened by rates or it is a matter of a war between an invisible hand and the council?”
After the emotional meeting last Friday and listening to both sides, it emerged that some residents feel councillors are not executing the duties for which they were elected besides sitting in the boardroom. Observers can also accuse residents of not playing their part, especially by failing to participate in budget consultation meetings.
The attitude of some residents who feel they were not consulted in the build-up to the 2020 budget could be the reason for the current situation which could have been avoided had residents attended budget consultation meetings.
The disgruntled residents, believed to be backed by some executives in town, are angling towards forming a splinter residents association called Victoria Falls United Residents. The group behind the project has lined up a series of meetings around town to push for review of the $354 million budget.
The municipality which relies largely on ratepayers for revenue, increased last year’s budget by 800 percent. Residents had petitioned councillors who then wrote to management calling for downward review of the budget. However, the council finance committee recently recommended against reducing the budget saying this would cripple the local authority. Instead, the local authority came up with three options — to charge some services in foreign currency, increase the budget by between 40 and 70 percent or keep the budget where it is and suspend some services to cut costs.
The council resolved to adopt the third option and warned residents to brace for compromised services including reduced access to running water and infrequent refuse collection, a position which councillors should have communicated to their constituents.
Residents on the other hand could have avoided the current situation had they participated during the budget consultation process which was an opportunity for them to object to it, the same way they want to object now.
e budget position is now a resolution and cannot be reversed, at least for now.
Municipal Chamber Secretary Mrs Kholwani Mangena-Moyo said council received less than 30 objections to the current budget, in a town of close to 40 000 people.
“The Urban Council Act is clear on the budget making process. A budget is a resolution and residents don’t sign it because it is deemed that they elected some people (councillors) to represent them. Residents speak through objections and we got less than 30 objections when the process was advertised,” said Mrs Mangena-Moyo.
What emerged is lack of understanding and education about the budget making process among residents.
Mrs Sifiso Sibanda, one of the disgruntled residents pushing for a new grouping called for change.
“We as residents are very disappointed. We feel let down by people we sent to represent us. This meeting should have happened last year had our representatives been doing their part. Our belief is that councillors are our representatives but they have let us down hence we felt we better stand for ourselves. We are angry but we don’t want to fight.
“The response we got after lodging a petition was disappointing. Our mission here is to express concern over high tariffs. Not everyone has access to United States dollars and those who have and feel can donate to council can do so, but we can’t be squeezed especially when the industry that is our source of income is closed. We were shocked when we heard that the budget had been passed and we questioned who had signed for it when we didn’t as residents,” said Mrs Sibanda.
She challenged the council to improve the way it organises residents meetings and find ways of accommodating everyone, saying people cannot be blamed for not attending meetings.
Mrs Sibanda said ‘they’ don’t belong to
Vifacora hence would not bring their grievances through the incumbent residents association.
She was responding to a contribution by Vifacora trustee Mr Christopher Ndiweni who had bemoaned most residents’ habit of snubbing meetings.
“Are these grievances coming through the residents association or they are coming from individuals? As far as we know, the residents association has been calling for meetings and people always don’t attend,” he said.
Vifacora chairman Mr Morgen Gazza Dube said there is a need for budget education for residents.
“There is no provision for budget to be signed by residents. Rates are advertised in a newspaper so that those who would have failed to participate during the consultation stages can object to it. Those who thought they could sign before it is sent for approval may have been misled. Let’s consider that we have a town to look after and stop the mentality of undermining each other,” he said.
Another resident, Mr Kelvin Moyo said Vifacora supports the resolution to maintain the $354 budget for the benefit of both residents and town’s survival.
“The residents association is a watchdog and speaks for residents about service delivery. We encourage residents to pay what they owe. We are only here because of Covid-19 that has incapacitated people otherwise we wouldn’t be having this meeting if things were normal. Let’s consider that the town has to function. The problem is that we have meeting apathy hence we need massive conscientisation,” he said.
Mr Tonderai Mutasa, another disgruntled resident, warned that the blame game would not yield results.
“We are here to talk about challenges of affordability of the budget because it is bad to live in debt. We are not saying people should not pay but we want the rates reduced for people to afford,” he said.
His sentiments were echoed by tourism executive Ms Yvonne Jandles who said the more than 800 percent rates increase was a burden to residents.
Town Clerk Mr Ronnie Dube said resolutions made at official meetings are binding to every concerned citizen regardless of whether one attended or not.
“If one is invited to a meeting and doesn’t come, the outcome will be binding for everyone. We are a listening council, we listen to every issue raised and if it is relevant we address it. If people are and purport to be a residents association, we ask to see their PVO registration and at the moment we have one registered residents association which is Vifacora,” he said.
Town Treasurer Mr Neville Ndlovu said the impact of Covid-19 and inflation is evident as he warned residents to brace for depleted service delivery.
“When we make a budget we consider inputs such as water, electricity and fuel to come up with tariffs. Fuel was one of the major cost drivers for the budget. When we started the process it was around $7 per litre and it had risen to about $15 per litre when we finished the process. We have reconfigured our budget and tried to trim some activities.
“A council is required to have sufficient funding to carry its mandate. That is why we suggested three options after being approached with the need to reduce budget. The first one was to charge some services in United States dollars since Government has allowed us to use foreign currency, secondly we were to increase the budget by between 40 and 70 percent and thirdly maintain the budget but definitely with service delivery going down meaning we may end up collecting refuse once a month in high density suburbs where we currently collect weekly and water may also be available twice a week only.
“These are the realities we are facing and councillors were supposed to explain this to residents to brace for compromised services. As management we are working hard to streamline costs and get the best from what we have. We are hoping that if the environment continues as it is, this budget could take us to the end of the year but if things change we might come back here again asking for a review,” said Mr Ndlovu, adding that the council is waiting for a response from Government after applying for a bailout.
Deputy Mayor Cllr Patricia Mwale and Ward 11 councillor Edmore Zhou said councillors had worked exceptionally well yet some residents lacked appreciation.
Cllr Zhou, who a few months ago sourced an ambulance for the council, said he is equally affected as a resident as he has properties that he is failing to pay rent for.
Mayor Cllr Somvelo Dlamini called for a mindset change, encouraging residents to participate in the budget meetings.
“Budget making is a process which involves consulting residents. So for people to say they were not consulted, that may not be true. The process starts around August and September and people must attend those meetings because once it is passed it becomes a policy and is difficult to change. We have allowed this meeting to take place because we wanted to hear people’s views, not that it is constituted in terms of the Urban Councils Act. Let’s speak through our councillors in our respective wards.
“Council has embarked on cost cutting measures and has stopped recruiting because the economic situation is not conducive to people yet at the same time it should provide services.
“Let’s all build our town because what we do today impacts on us tomorrow. Let’s learn to focus ahead and see if the current rates will be able to sustain the town. We are caught between affordable rates and town’s survival and we don’t want to be labelled as having failed the town. Victoria Falls is the face of Zimbabwe and whatever we do sends a certain impression to the whole world hence we don’t want to compromise service delivery,” said the Mayor. — @ncubeleon