14 Mar 2022

Chobe district councillors have unanimously concurred that there is a need for the local authority to strengthen revenue collection strategies to augment government grant.

Speaking in a special full council meeting to present the council’s 2022/23 recurrent budget on Friday, Councillor Caster Mpebe of Old Kazungula Ward said there were many ways that councils could raise revenue should government policies empower them.

He said allowing the Chobe council to get royalties from the hotels and hospitality industry was one way. He said another way could be through the introduction of the collection at the Kazungula One Stop Border Post.

Cllr Mpebe said in order to reduce spending, council and government departments should consider sharing vehicles whenever they attend same activities, adding that a lot of money was spent on fuel.

He also noted that the tower lights in some parts of the district should be transformed to solar in order to avoid high electricity bills.  

He further said the council should suggest the introduction of toll-gates along the Nata-Kasane Road. Cllr Boitumelo Kanyetu of Plateau ward observed that one of the council’s unnecessary spending emanated from careless driving leading to frequent breakdowns and some officers leaving air conditioners and lights on when they knock-off.

He noted that it was high time the Chobe district council emulated neighbouring councils such as those in Namibia by building guesthouses and shopping malls to lease to the community and generate income in the process.

Cllr Kanyetu thanked the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development for increasing the budget for the department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, saying he was hopeful that most of the vehicles that had been down would be back on the road.

Newstands councillor, Mr Matengu Simasiku suggested that the Constituency Community fund should be used for income generating projects.

Earlier in his presentation of the 2022/23 financial year recurrent budget, the chairperson of the Finance committee also Pandamatenga councillor, Mr Tengenyane Tuelo said the local government and rural development ministry had approved about P86 million for the recurrent budget.

Cllr Tuelo said the P86 million included the slightly over P77 million Revenue Support Grant (RSG), over P1million for the special provisions for COVID-19 preventative measures in primary schools and P1million for insurance. He said the P77 million RSG for the 2022/23 was the same as that of the 2021/22 financial year, noting that the council should put in place stringent measures to contain expenditure and stop unnecessary spending.

He explained that the largest share of the council’s budget went to personal emoluments, which included mainly salaries at P66milion followed by special expenses which include relief of destitute, refuse contracts, school stationery and equipment.

He noted that the budget preparation and priorities were aligned to the Presidential Reset Agenda and the local government and rural development ministry Strategy and Transformation Plan as evidenced by continuous prioritisation of special expenses. ENDS