{"id":4373,"date":"2024-10-02T11:26:46","date_gmt":"2024-10-02T11:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/?p=4373"},"modified":"2024-10-02T11:26:47","modified_gmt":"2024-10-02T11:26:47","slug":"residents-smell-a-rat-as-city-council-introduces-special-levy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/?p=4373","title":{"rendered":"Residents Smell a Rat as City Council Introduces Special Levy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><br>Innocent Sibonginkosi Ncube<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Residents of Ward 20 in Bulawayo are demanding greater accountability from the Bulawayo City Council regarding the management of proposed special water and road levies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The council&#8217;s 2025 budget proposes introducing a special roads levy and a special water levy, with domestic properties paying US$1 per month for each levy and commercial properties paying US$10 per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Concerns Over Transparency and Accountability<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Residents expressed concerns over the council&#8217;s ability to safeguard funds. Junior Sibanda noted,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;You are talking about ring-fencing, but the problem is not there\u2026 what is missing in the council is discipline.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Soneni Moyo requested more transparency on the exact amount required for water and road projects, while Msaka urged the council to provide clear pricing for equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Council&#8217;s Response<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>BCC representative Mr. Ngwenya refuted claims of mismanagement, stating,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Devolution money is ring-fenced, no matter how broke we are, we don\u2019t take that money.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He explained that residents will pay the special levies until the projects are completed. Chief Fire Officer Mhlangano Moyo added that the levies will also fund replacing outdated water meters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Key Points<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Proposed Levies: US$1\/month for domestic properties, US$10\/month for commercial properties<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Funding Goals: Raise US$2.22 million per project for water and road infrastructure<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ring-Fencing: Funds will be dedicated to specific projects<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Transparency: Residents request clear pricing and budget breakdowns<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Council&#8217;s Assurance: Funds will be used appropriately, with a focus on long-term solutions,<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The council requires US$1.5 million to maintain current road infrastructure, and the levies are seen as a small but essential contribution to the overall budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Zim GBC News\u00a92024<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Innocent Sibonginkosi Ncube Residents of Ward 20 in Bulawayo are demanding greater accountability from the Bulawayo City Council regarding the management of proposed special water and road levies. The council&#8217;s&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-main-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4373"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4375,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4373\/revisions\/4375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}