BCC owed huge sums of money by residents

Residents in Bulawayo are owing the Bulawayo City Council huge sums of money, which the authority has blamed for poor service delivery.

This emerged during the on going budget consultations by the council officials in the city.

A budget consultation meeting that BCC conducted in Entumbane brought to light the amount of turmoil that the City Council has had to endure over the past six months.

Revelations made at the meeting shows that Entumbane alone owes BCC $1,8 million in rates out of a total of $61 million that Bulawayo residents owe to Council. Entumbane's 3% Ward Retention stands at $20,302.

It came to light that BCC has since started implementing the Ward Retention where 3% of rates collected from each ward is used to improve the community. Councillor Masuku said a constitution that will govern the Ward Retention is currently being crafted.

There was a lack of clarity of how the Council had actually allocated funds for Entumbane suburb in the budget making process. A review of the Council expenditure from January - June 2017 was read out to residents.

Since January - June 2017, Council expenditure on education has been $2.17 million from a budget of $2,93 million. Since January - June 2017, Council expenditure on health has been $9.8 million from a budget of $13.1 million. Since January - June 2017, Council expenditure on water has been $9.6 million from a budget of $9.06 million.

However, residents demanded to know why Council omitted to offer a review of the Council salaries and staff wages. Entumbane priority list for 2018 is as follows: Water, Health, Sewerage, Housing, Education, Roads, Public Lighting, Social Services, Fire & Ambulances.