04 Dec 2013

 North West District Council continues to struggle with finances to meet the needs and aspiration of communities in the area due to unstable economic outlook and growth.

Council chairman, Mr Lathang Molonda told the recent council meeting that the authority had experienced a budget deficit over the last four years and called for ways to generate revenue.

“We need to fast-track drawing of the guidelines which will give us platform to start generating our own revenue”, he added. Recently the council sent a delegation to plead for more funds from the minister of Local Government and Rural Development so it could carry out planned council activities.

He said the North West District had unique challenges when compared with other districts. These include its difficult terrain and the distance from suppliers.

Mr Molonda said the response was positive as the minister promised to look into the matter to see if funds could be secured.  The matter was subsequently in the ministry’s supplementary budget requests.

He said council was yet to receive the money and urged councillors to clarify the matter to the public as some people were worried at the slow pace of development in their areas.

Mr Molonda said in an effort to identify new revenue sources and improve collection, the council had endorsed the formation of a Revenue Generation Committee.

The council had also come up with an initiative to involve the private sector on its infrastructure development through Public Private Partnership (PPP).

The councicl chairman also informed the councillors that the twinning programme with Hultsfred Municipality had started to bear fruits. The programme has as its main areas for cooperation, local economic empowerment and poverty eradication through capacity building in the informal sector of the district.

He said some beneficiaries from the informal sector had been trained and council would continue to roll out the training during 2014 and beyond and also give support through mentoring to ensure sustainability of businesses.

On other issues, Mr Molonda said the council received donations from the Chinese business community and Builders World. The donations were in the form of blankets, woolen caps and small tents which were distributed to the two sub-districts.

He said another donation was received by Phuduhudu community as Paradise Singers from Serowe donated clothing and toiletry to 144 people in the village.

Mr Molonda thanked the donors for their noble gestures and encouraged more people to come forward and assist the disadvantaged members of communities.

The council chairman informed councilors that alternative packages arrangement for the poverty eradication programme was progressing well with a total of 59 projects operating.

He said the council received funds amounting to over P7 million from the ministry in October and had since disbursed the money to the sub districts for implementation of projects.

Mr Molonda said the district continued to encounter challenges such as lack of space, negligence of projects by some beneficiaries and shortage of transport to monitor and deliver materials.

He encouraged all to assist the government in ensuring that those who received government assistance made full use of the projects. Ends