Back to Index

Chipinge Town Council imposes 2 trillion budget
Zimbabwe Youth Forum (ZYF)
October 18, 2007

Residents of Chipinge Town were shocked this week when they were invited to a pre-budget planning meeting which turned out to be a predetermined event as the local authorities imposed a 2 trillion dollar budget [approximately 66.7 million USD] on the official market. This budget neglects key issues affecting residents like water reticulation, refuse collection and improvement in social amenities. This implies that Chipinge residents should brace up for another year without safe drinking water while refuse continue to pile up in front of their houses posing a health threat. In a strong-willed and shameless act of criminal intent the local authorities announced an outrageous increase in rates of more than 4 000% leaving residents with no option but to petition Ignatius Chombo the Minister of Local Governance and Urban Development to reverse what they termed a "diabolic' increase. The meeting which was largely attended by young people saw among other things hiring fees for the stadium and council hall in Chipinge's Gaza township rising from $7 000 000.00 and $4 000 000.00 up to $70 000 000.00 and $40 000 000.00 respectively. Cemetery fees for burying dead relatives jumped from $1 300 000.00 to a monstrous $57 000 00.00. Operating licenses for local business persons rose from $1 000 000.00 per year to a whopping $350 000 000.00 pushing most of them out of business sadly after the state sponsored looting exercise which occurred under the disguise of price slashes. We concur with the Reserve Bank boss Gideon Gono that people are making drunken decisions in the country but unfortunately it is mostly those in ZANU (PF).

Masvingo

Youth Forum Board Chairperson Madock Chivasa and Wellington Zindove the Youth Forum National Projects Coordinator are expected back in court on Monday, 22 October to face trial on allegations of causing criminal nuisance as defined in the notorious POSA that the regime of Robert Mugabe has full engaged to save itself from the wrath of the entire citizenry who are demanding its immediate ouster for putting the nation into an unprecedented economic meltdown which has witnessed inflation setting new world trends of 9 000% and unemployment coming close to 100%. These charges arose from a public meeting which was organized by the Youth Forum and addressed by the two. The public meeting was disrupted by the police working in cahoots with drunken ZANU (PF) youths.

Meanwhile, Edison Hlatshwayo, a student leader at the Great Zimbabwe University who was arrested alongside Chivasa and Zindove continue to languish in remand prison as the state continues to oppose bail. This has angered the students' motherboard ZINASU, which has reacted by mobilizing more than 100 students who brought court business to a sudden halt as they demanded an immediate release of Hlatshwayo resulting in the postponement of the court hearing.

Bindura

As elections draw nearer many youths are reportedly defecting from ZANU (PF) to join the MDC and other opposition political parties as they shun ZANU (PF)'s political culture of violence, intimidation, death and arson. The MDC youth coordinator Maphosa who has been assisting the Youth Forum in mobilizing young people to be active citizens said Bindura has been demystified as a no go area. In the past no opposition political parties were allowed to campaign in Bindura by the ruling ZANU(PF) which used the army, the intelligence, police and youths from Border Gezi Paramilitary Training Centers to instill fear, beat and at times kill members of the opposition.

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP