The residents of Zaka district under Chief Ndanga threatens to stop pay development levy due to lack of receipts for previous payments. Speaking during a COTRAD facilitated community development meeting held in Zaka Central ward 8 at Gwangwava shopping Centre the residents from local villages raised concerns over the failure by traditional leaders to provide receipts to some households who have subscribed their development levy of 3 RTGS dollars per family for the year 2019. The residents blamed the traditional leaders for collecting public funds and fail to comply with the Rural District Council laws in regards to payment of levies. The residents demanded for supporting documents of all payments made by the villagers. “As residents we expect public officials to be transparent when dealing with public funds. The public officials must lead by example in fighting corruption, mismanagement of public funds, fraudulent activities, negligence and ineptitude”, said one resident. The residents urged council officials not to tolerate opaque and shambolic accounting processes by traditional leaders so that the levy payers will trust the council fundraising process.
However, the traditional leaders informed the participants that all payments made will be receipted and the transactions have been done according to council books of accounts. They also clarified that, households who subscribed their development levy in time have received they receipts, however receipts for those families who made later payments are still with the council awaiting for collection. The traditional leaders urged all residents to subscribe their levies timeously so that the receipting process will be done once and the council will also have sufficient resources to improve service delivery and implement community development programs. COTRAD calls upon public officials to be transparent and accountable to citizen needs and demands. COTRAD also encourages the residents to peacefully engage public officials on social, economic and political concerns in their communities.
Source: COTRAD
