Gokwe South villagers are up in arms against their local authority for failing to prioritise infrastructure development, particularly roads.
BY DESMOND CHINGARANDE
Speaking during a council budget consultative meeting at Bomba business Centre last week, disgruntled residents said council officials were only interested in collecting levies without ploughing back into the community.
“We have been paying levies for the past 15 years, but the council has done nothing to develop the community. They are only good at collecting levies,” Kudzanayi Ngwenya from Chief Njelele’s area, said.
“We have more than 2 000 homesteads in the area and we are paying $15 each and that translates to more than $30 000 collected every month. According to the Rural Councils Act, they (council) should set aside money collected for developments in the community but we have not seen any channelled towards that,” he said.
Another resident, Zenzele Sibanda from Chief Jahana’s area weighed in, saying most public transport operators were shunning the area because of its poor road network.
Contacted for comment, Gokwe South Rural District Council chief executive officer, Silas Velani, blamed residents for letting down council by not paying their levies.
“We appreciate their concerns, but most of them are not paying levies. According to our accounting records, we are collecting $1 500 from Chief Njelele’s residents every month and surely they cannot expect us to bring about meaningful development with that amount of money,” Velani said.
