Bulawayo Mayor blames inflation for high rates and charges after business community raises concerns
Bulawayo Mayor Senator David Coltart has said that inflation affecting the entire country is one of the major reasons why rates and charges had gone up.
This was revealed during the business community consultation where they raised concerns of high water and sewerage bills. It was stated that things have not been consistent with the standstill budget that was adopted in 2022.
One of the businessmen from Mahatshula, Misheck said, “When the city council changed from RTGS to US dollar, I personally have been receiving a bill for the past two months of $98 and $102. That’s the bill for the month. So I don’t know where these figures are coming from. I tried to engage the council and say, guys, where are you getting these ones? But that question hasn’t been answered.”
Rampant Inflation
In response the Mayor blamed inflation saying, “I’m not making an excuse. I’m just asking residents to understand the wider context in which we operate and which we have no power over. No control over international trends which impose risks on inflation. No control over what the government does in terms of allowing people to pay rates at the official rate that is wildly different from the real rate.”
He added, “I’m appealing to the government to free our hands. If they do something we can either charge in US dollars, or we can charge as businesses are doing at the real rate of exchange. Then people have some latitude to deal with your legitimate complaints. They are legitimate but I’m asking you to understand that we are operating with our hands tied,” he said.
Coltart revealed that this meant that only 10% of residents were paying their bills in US dollars, while 90% were paying in RTGS, which distorted the charges that they received.
Another issue that was raised was the parking fees that the city council was charging, which they said were too high and discouraging customers from visiting their businesses.
RELATED CONTENT: Mayor David Coltart Calls for Collective Effort to Develop Bulawayo
Missing Money
“I realised the council is missing a lot of money because people are parking in areas where they are supposed to pay something to the council or to ZINARA or whoever. Because parking in town is very expensive. For example, if I park at City Hall, which is $4 a day, but $4 a day is too much, considering the income that we are having. I don’t know whether the city council or the city fathers would actually consider reviewing it to those people who get into town on a daily basis for maybe $2 per day,” said Mahatshula businessman.
Commenting on the issue of expensive parking fees, Acting Town Clerk, Sikhangele Zhou said that the city council was open to review the parking fees if they were affecting the business operations.
“All businesses are in the business of building things in this city. Parking spaces were created for the business owners, for the shop owners. Every shop owner wants a space to park his car. That is how it should be,” she added.
Other issues that were raised included illegal mining along Umguza River, refuse collection, value for money in public spending and inflation.
Community Engagement
The business community also suggested some ways that the city council could improve its revenue collection and service delivery, such as engaging residents in waste management, training and regulating artisanal miners and standardising prices of goods supplied to government entities.
They also explained some of the challenges that they were facing in preparing and implementing the budget, such as COVID-19 impact, drought risk, exchange rate volatility and policy uncertainty.
The Acting Town Clerk assured the business community that they were aiming to achieve a balanced budget that would ensure macroeconomic stability, policy credibility and investor confidence
They also said that they were playing a key role in facilitating and promoting investment by creating a conducive macroeconomic environment, providing policy guidance and coordination, formulating fiscal policy strategies and mobilising resources for development.
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