{"id":7900,"date":"2025-07-18T14:23:42","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T14:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/?p=7900"},"modified":"2025-07-18T14:23:43","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T14:23:43","slug":"govt-increases-councillors-allowances-introduces-new-perks-including-residential-stands-motorbike-loans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/?p=7900","title":{"rendered":"Govt Increases Councillors\u2019 Allowances, Introduces New Perks Including Residential Stands &amp; Motorbike Loans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><br>Prominance Sinomusa Khumalo<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bulawayo \u2013 The Government has announced a new package of allowances and benefits for local authority officials, including monthly allowances, residential stands, motorbike loans, and other perks such as free parking and graves during their tenure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The measures were announced by the Local government Minister after the 2025 All-Councillors Indaba held in Bulawayo last month. The circular was supposed have been released a few days after the Indaba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The circular dated 17 July 2025, was eventually issued by Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe, this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under the new structure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Mayors &amp; Council Chairpersons will receive US$265 monthly.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Deputy Mayors &amp; Vice Chairpersons will get US$243.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Committee Chairpersons will earn US$229.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ordinary Councillors will be paid US$221.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Minister Garwe stated that 20% of these increases will take effect from January 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To support councillors without residences in their wards, the government has introduced a once-off housing benefit:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Eligible councillors can be allocated a single residential stand within their ward at a 40% discount.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The stand will be offered on a lease-to-buy basis, with full payment required before the end of their term.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Title deeds will only be issued after home construction is complete, and the stand cannot be sold or transferred during office.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe stand acquired in terms of this circular is not for profit or aggrandizement,\u201d Minister Garwe emphasized, calling it \u201ca privilege, not an entitlement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Councils can apply to provide motorbike loans (up to US$2,000) to councillors, repayable over five years.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Additional perks include free parking and a free grave during their term.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>No exit packages will be paid upon completion of a councillor\u2019s term.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Minister Garwe warned against unauthorized perks, stating:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAny circular that arbitrarily raised allowances without ministerial approval should recover same forthwith.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Auditor-General has been directed to audit compliance, and all previous circulars on allowances have been cancelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Zim GBC News\u00a92025<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prominance Sinomusa Khumalo Bulawayo \u2013 The Government has announced a new package of allowances and benefits for local authority officials, including monthly allowances, residential stands, motorbike loans, and other perks&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[109],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7900","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=7900"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7902,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7900\/revisions\/7902"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}