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GWERU residents yesterday urged the council to give incentives to people who pay their bills in United States dollars, saying such a move would enable the local authority to collect revenue in foreign currency. BY Stephen Chadenga The residents made the call at a consultative meeting for the 2021 budget. Gweru United Progressive Residents and Ratepayers Development Association Trust executive director David Chikore said council should charge less in US dollars to encourage ratepayers to settle their bills in hard currency. “Since council has adopted dual pricing we propose that instead of billing the US dollar component using the interbank rate, they can lower it a bit compared to the RTGS$ charge,” he said. “By introducing incentives council will be able to directly get revenue in US dollar and pay its suppliers without hassles. Without incentives people will continue opting to pay in Zimdollars.” Mayor Josiah Makombe said his council would consider the proposal. He said council was also working on ways to implement the payment of tariffs in the 2021 budget in a manner that would ease the burden on ratepayers. “That is a welcome move by residents to propose for incentives to those residents who settle their rates in US dollars and we are going to seriously consider it,” Makombe said. “We will do everything as a local authority to make sure that we implement payment methods that ease the burden on our residents.”
South Africa is one of the hardest-hit countries in Africa with over 740,000 infections.
The country recorded 60 more virus-related deaths on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 20,011.
THE GWERU City Council (GCC) has lost over $10 million in shady land deals at a time the cash-strapped local authority is struggling on the service delivery front. BY STEPHEN CHADENGA In the past 10 years, the council reportedly lost large swathes of land that were disposed of without following due process as the city has not fully automated its operations to curb corruption. A 2019 land audit which was commissioned by government revealed that from 2009 to 2019, Gweru disposed of residential, commercial, institutional and industrial stands with an estimated value of $21 million. However, the council only received half the value of the land as a result of dodgy deals by corrupt council officials. “The expected value of all the stands disposed of during the period from 2009 to date of audit (2019) was over $21 889 823,” the report read. “To date, council has realised over $11 811 848 for the stands disposed and had an outstanding land balance of around $10 077 974 due, and payable by the beneficiaries. The use of the manual record system which was not in order and the Promun system was not reliable as stands sold on cash basis were not captured in the system.” The audit revealed that during the period, the local authority created over 7 206 stands for disposal with 158 stands not accounted for. The Gweru Residents Association said the report was not publicised despite that the stands which were parcelled out were on open spaces, recreational sites and golf courses. “About 15 commercial stands were created on the Gymkhana (Gweru Sports Ground) recreational site without following change of reservation procedures, thus depriving residents of recreational facilities,” the report said. The stands were said to have been surveyed, yet there were no layout plans. In another case, three stands 9290 to 9292, measuring 2 500, and 5 000 and 4 000 square metres respectively were said to have been created on an open space without change of reservation approval. At heavy industrial sites, Zambezi had three infill stands (9240, 9043 and 9242) created on stand number 6034 of Gwelo Township lands measuring 11 783 hectares on an unapproved layout plan as there was no evidence of layout approvals by the Local Government minister. Furthermore, three stand numbers (9 236 to 9 238) were unprocedurally created on a servitude along Gweru-Bulawayo Road. The dossier also revealed that five institutional stand numbers (9110, 9108, 9109, 9241 and 9108E) were illegally developed on an open space with an unapproved layout plan. Mayor Josiah Makombe said the Local Government ministry submitted the report to council this year, adding that disciplinary action had since been instituted against officials implicated in the audit. “We have since suspended employees implicated in the audit to institute disciplinary measures against them,” Makombe said. He said the document would be made public.
THE DECISION by Savanna-la-Mar Mayor Bertel Moore to take charge of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation’s (WMC) new multimillion dollar headquarters effective June 1 has been hailed as a positive move by the business community in the parish.
“The chamber is confidently anticipating that not only will the imposing structure add to the aesthetics of our capital, but will also bring about positive changes to the quality of service to our citizens from the WMC,” said Moses Chybar, president of the Westmoreland Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The ground floor of the new building will house the corporation’s finance department and the second floor will house the corporation’s chamber, a caucus room, and the mayor and deputy mayor’s offices.
The occupation of the new building will reduce the WMC’s largest expenditure, the rent it has been paying for the office space at the Westmoreland Parish Court.
The chamber boss indicated that the new WMC headquarters would feature upgraded information technology equipment, which would facilitate the electronic storage of records.
THE local film industry has for long been viewed with different lenses with some analysts saying it was in intensive care unit while others perceive it to be“clinically” dead.
Good day, readers. The last time we looked at a question from a reader; this week we have a follow-up from a reader who wanted further clarification of the same question. Last week’s question: I bought this property with an existing structure on...
Maputo — The prosecution has called for \"exemplary sentences\" against five Mozambican police officers accused of involvement in the theft of ten million meticais (about 144,000 US dollars at current exchange rates) from a Maputo casino, reports Wednesday's issue of the independent newssheet \"Carta de Mocambique\".
The manager of the Marina Casino, accompanied by one of the casino's drivers, had just withdrawn ten million meticais from a Maputo bank.
Two men left these cars and approached the manager, presenting themselves as police officers.
The casino driver, disobeying the manager's instructions, unlocked the car and facilitated the theft, allowing the policemen-turned-gangsters to make off with the entire ten million meticais.
The manager ordered him to pursue the police cars, but the driver refused.
After George Floyd’s death, many athletes and sports leagues pushed back more forcefully against the president’s demand for standing during the national anthem, and he shifted away from the issue.
[The Herald] Harare City Council nurses have rejected a $4 498,18 salary offer presented by the local authority, arguing that the proposed figures were below the poverty datum line, and have issued a 14-day ultimatum to strike if their grievances are not addressed.
A 36-YEAR-OLD Ruwa tenant has been jailed to 18 months for forging her daughter’s birth certificate in a bid to inherit her late landlord’s estate. BY JAIROS SAUNYAMA Abigail Muchafuruka was sentenced by Marondera magistrate Ignatius Mhene, who later commuted the sentence to 420 hours of community service at Ruwa Police Station. The court heard that Muchafuruka forged her daughter’s birth certificate and submitted it in court on July 9 this year in a bid to claim a stake in her later landlord, Peter Kandawasvika’s estate. The forged document indicated that the deceased was the child’s biological father. Muchafuruka told the court that she had an affair with the late Kandawasvika, resulting in the birth of her daughter but her claims were dismissed after records at the Registrar-General’s Office revealed that the child’s original document had no father’s name. The matter came to light after the deceased’s wife noted that there was different printing on the child’s forged birth certificate. John Hama represented the State.
A romantic comedy about a cooking contest shot in Harare in the last days under Robert Mugabe has been released on Netflix, and Zimbabweans are basking in a rare flash of good news.
Much of the power of the film is in the light it shines on the resilience of Harare residents getting on with their lives in ways not always recognisable to the consumers of news headlines only.
The film deftly touches on class differences in urban Zimbabwe: one of Anesu's most dangerous opponents is the limousine-driving Milly Ann (Fungai Majaya) from Chisipite, one of Harare's (still very) posh northern suburbs.
Despite the real-life privations, the film's food theme does not jar three years after it was made: real life in Zimbabwe is after all not a single story.
Seeing a Zimbabwean film beside a Hollywood one on the Netflix homepage is what Zimbabwe's filmmakers need to help them claim their place on the international stage, said producer, Njagu.
Libya's warring sides agreed in UN-led talks on Wednesday a plan to hold elections within 18 months, as diplomatic efforts grow to end a decade of violence in the North African country.
Delegates from across Libya \"reached a preliminary roadmap for ending the transitional period and organizing free, fair, inclusive and credible presidential and parliamentary elections,\" interim UN envoy Stephanie Williams told journalists.
The talks in Tunisia aim to create a framework and a temporary government to prepare for elections as well as providing services in a country devastated by years of war, exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Williams stressed the need to move quickly to \"national elections which must be transparent and based on full respect for freedom of expression and assembly.\"
The Tunisia dialogue comes alongside military negotiations inside Libya to fill in the details of a landmark October ceasefire deal.
Libya is dominated by an array of armed groups and two executives: the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord, the product of a 2015 UN-led process, and a legislature elected in 2014 and allied with eastern military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
The UN selected the 75 invitees to the political talks to represent existing institutions and the diversity of Libyan society, a move that has sparked criticism of the process and its credibility.
The talks took place as a joint military commission of senior pro-GNA and pro-Haftar commanders continued meetings in Sirte, the hometown of longtime dictator Muammar Gadhafi whose 2011 toppling sparked Libya's crumble into chaos.
Sirte is on the line dividing zones controlled by the two forces, after Haftar's year-long bid to seize the western city of Tripoli crumbled in June with a blistering GNA counter-attack.
The ceasefire deal and military talks since have triggered hopes of an accompanying political deal.
Wednesday's talks were overshadowed by the fatal shooting of a prominent lawyer and women's rights activist in the eastern city of Benghazi the previous day.
Hanan al-Barassi, a vocal critic of corruption, abuse of power, and violence against women, was killed in broad daylight by unidentified armed men.
\"Her tragic death illustrates the threats that are faced by Libyan women as they dare to speak out,\" Williams said.
Bemoaning a \"crisis of accountability\" across Libya, she called for justice for Barassi's killers but declined to comment on whether the lawyer's death was linked to the talks.
\"There will be obstructionists, there will be people who don’t want change,\" she said.
But, she added, most Libyans \"have an overwhelming desire to reclaim their sovereignty and restore the legitimacy of their institutions.\"
The Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators in Zimbabwe (ICSAZ) has been admitted to the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) as an associate member, only the second Professional Accountancy Organisation in Zimbabwe to become a member. IFAC is the global organisation for the accountancy profession. It has more than 175 member and associate member organisations in 130 countries and jurisdictions, together representing nearly three million professional accountants. The decision to admit ICSAZ as an associate member was announced following a virtual meeting of the IFAC Council today (Wednesday), which accepted an IFAC board recommendation, made in September, that ICSAZ be admitted as an associate member. Previously the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe was the only local institute belonging to IFAC IFAC membership is a globally recognised hallmark of a high quality professional accountancy organisation. Its requirements for membership include the adoption of international standards and support for their implementation, thereby demonstrating a member organisation’s expertise in and commitment to international standards, best practice and serving the public interest. Commenting on the institute’s admission to IFAC, ICSAZ chief executive Dr.Lovemore Gomera said he was delighted that the institute’s application for membership had been accepted. “ICSAZ as a division is unique within the global Chartered Governance Institute (CGI) in producing chartered governance professionals who are also professional accountants. Our members are able to register as public accountants with the Public Accountants and Auditors Board (PAAB), a body on which ICSAZ is also represented. “It has long been our wish to become members of IFAC, the international accountancy body. Our admission as a member of IFAC is a significant milestone for ICSAZ and confirms our place within the accountancy profession,” Dr Gomera said. Issued on behalf of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators in Zimbabwe by MHPR Public Relations Consultants, 59 Van Praagh Avenue, Milton Park, Harare. Tel. 2251538-40. 2798761 E-mail: mhamilton@mhpr.co.zw Contact Person: Mike Hamilton (Mobile: 0772 469 801)
The bowsers sent by council are overwhelmed because of the number of areas in the same dilemma and that’s the reason why we are on record saying the Bulawayo water situation should be declared a national disaster by the government,” Sibindi said.
A consultant contracted by the government to assess the water situation in Bulawayo, Paul Kruger, a few weeks ago said there was no water crisis in the city, but lack of capacity by council to draw available water.
This then led the government to decline to declare Bulawayo a water crisis area.
Last week, Zapu spokesperson for Bulawayo province, Mandla Khanye, called on the government and the city council to work together to ensure the completion of the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project to resolve the water crisis.
“The dire situation of water in Bulawayo requires government and BCC to take drastic steps to contain the crisis.
