Kwekwe residents have once again clashed with the local authority, demanding a review of its 2016 budget, claiming it was not a true reflection of their contributed views and aspirations.
BY BLESSED MHLANGA
Over 30 residents, who were led by Kwekwe Residents and Ratepayers’ Development Association (KRRDA), signed the petition, which has since been deposited with council, just two days, after councillors adopted a $30,5 million budgets for next year.
KRRDA alleges the budget was unnecessarily big for Kwekwe, arguing it would give room to fraudulent activities in the corridors of the city council.
KRRDA secretary-general Alex Homela said the budget came at a time the local authority was yet to deal with the 2011 to 2013 audits, which showed the civic centre was rotten to the core with corruption.
“We want the budget rejected because what is clear is that there is corruption at council and the 2011 and 2012 external audits vindicate us. That budget is unfairly heavy on us and its weight is made up of the cost of corruption and opulence by management,” Homela said.
External reports, however, indicate that council could have lost over $1 million in 2011 and 2012, but the two contentious reports are yet to be debated and adopted by council as the audit committee is still investigating what happened to the missing funds.
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Homela said the budget consultation meetings were poorly attended as council deliberately withheld information on the meetings. He said concerns raised by the few who attended the meetings were ignored.
“Our interpretation is that the City of Kwekwe orchestrated the confusion in order to limit the submissions to the budget and this is totally unacceptable in democratic settings. We hope you will also agree with us that consulting an average of eight people per ward is too little to legitimise your budget,” KRRDA said in its petition.
Mayor Matenda Madzoke said he had not seen the submissions by the residents and would only respond to association’s concerns once he had sufficient information.
According to reports, council was currently owed over $26 million by residents who were either failing to pay their bills or protesting alleged corruption at the helm of the city.
KRRDA is also demanding that council should advertise the budget in the Press to enable people to have access to the document and read through the figures.
This is the third time in as many years that KRRDA has locked horns with the city fathers demanding a review of the budget. The fights have ended at the Local Government minister’s offices and twice the budget has been rejected by the ministry.
