Harare mayor Bernard Manyenyeni has stuck to his guns that he will not approve the 2018 budget until human resources and sport allocations are adjusted downwards amid complaints from residents that they have been receiving dirty water for the past two weeks.
BY XOLISANI NCUBE
Council is currently pumping water with a greenish substance believed to be sludge and has not given any explanation to residents who expressed fear that they could be exposed to cholera. Manyenyeni yesterday said the current state of the budget was unsustainable. He said the budget was being used by corrupt officials to loot public resources at the expense of service delivery.
“The city finances are a mess but there is no intention of righting the wrongs in the budget. In council, there are people who have vested positions in our finances who wait to say it’s in the budget which you signed and was approved by the minister, you can’t change it,” Manyenyeni said.
“I will not sign it if the offending matters are not checked and sanitised.”
Among the sticking issues include money allocated to football, workshops and salaries which Manyenyeni said should be reduced.
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“Manpower costs are misaligned, we need to deal with workshops and sports budget,” he said.
Manyenyeni wanted a massive cut on the money spent by the local authority in funding Harare City’s football team and hefty salaries paid out to council workers and direct the revenue towards water purification and refuse collection.
The local authority has seen its revenue drop by 50% while the salaries and allowances bill has consumed over 60% of collected revenue.