×
NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

BCC divided over Urban Council’s Association of Zimbabwe

News
BULAWAYO councillors are divided over the council’s continued membership to the Urban Council’s Association of Zimbabwe (UCAZ), with some saying the representative body of the country’s local authorities was useless.

BULAWAYO councillors are divided over the council’s continued membership to the Urban Council’s Association of Zimbabwe (UCAZ), with some saying the representative body of the country’s local authorities was useless.

By NQOBANI NDLOVU

A section of city fathers want the struggling local authority to revoke its membership, and save $23 800 required for UCAZ annual subscription.

The membership subscriptions must be paid on a quarterly basis, $5 950 after every month, with the first payment expected at the end of March. Failure to pay before the end of the last month of each quarter attracts an interest “to the prevailing base rate”.

“The Town Clerk (Christopher Dube) therefore recommended that authority be granted for the payment of the UCAZ subscriptions amounting to $23 800 at $5 950 for each quarter.

“The matter was considered and Councilor Norman Hlabani expressed misgivings on the effectiveness of the UCAZ as an organisation,” read part latest minutes of the general purposes committee report.

“His view was that the organisation was no longer representing the interests of Bulawayo effectively enough and the city was not benefiting from its membership. He therefore had reservations on the payment of subscription as indicated in the report.”

The minutes added: “Councillor Ernest Rafomoyo was of a similar view. There was need to highlight some of these concerns particularly on issues of councillors’ welfare. The Chamber Secretary (Sikhangele Zhou) explained that Membership to Urban Councils Association of Zimbabwe was voluntary and it was within Council’s rights to revoke its membership.”

However, following debate, the council finally resolved to pay the subscriptions after it was argued that BCC’s membership to UCAZ had several benefits that out-weight the annual cost of affiliation.

“The organisation’s programmes were member driven and the value and effectiveness of the club depended on the participation of its members. Her (Zhou) view was that UCAZ was indeed a valuable platform for advocacy issues.

“On the professional front, the various organs of UCAZ such as The Town Clerk’s Forum, Engineers’ Forum, and Chamber Secretary’s Fora were benefiting immensely as they were the platforms through which they discussed local governance issues and exchanged notes as peers for the effective running of their respective local authorities,” the minutes said.