HWANGE’S ward 12 councillor Jonathan Nyathi, who falls under one of the wards described as ghost by the local board, is pushing for the incorporation of the wards.
He said some of the residents had houses in the area which fell under the local board’s jurisdiction.
Nyathi was reacting to Hwange Local Board (HLB)’s poor performance attributed to the existence of 10 “ghost” wards whose councillors do not fall under its purview.
“This issue is affecting my duties as a policymaker because currently I sit in HLB contributing to where I don’t have many people to represent. Though some of the residents in my ward own houses there, it’s a difficult situation to contribute.
“You will be thinking the other way on your side, we will be glad if the Minister of local Government allows the incorporation of these wards into HLB,” he said.
Nyathi said councillors from Concession are being criticised by Empumalanga residents because they hold the majority on the board.
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“They think that we make decisions to [make them] suffer not knowing that we are building Hwange and they say we are getting allowances while we contribute nothing,” he added.
The Matabeleland North local authority has over the past few years been struggling to offer seamless service delivery in its area of jurisdiction.
Hwange’s budget was rejected mostly because of legacy issues, which included failure to submit financial statements, avail audited financial reports, comply with enterprise resource planning and cover strategic vacant posts as well as to prove the basis of its rates.