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Innocent Ruwende in Bulawayo
The African Development Bank has urged local authorities to be transparent and foster good governance for them to attract foreign direct investment and secure loans from financial institutions. Addressing delegates at the ongoing Africa Local Government Economic Forum here, AfDB representative Mr Emmanuel Zabanita, said good governance was a prerequisite for development.

“You must improve on accountability. You are not going to attract investment from anywhere if investors do not have confidence in how you run your councils. You must also have sound strategies when looking for funding,” said Mr Zabanita

“I was recently impressed by Bulawayo City Council, which came with a proposal for us to fund their sewer project. They did not only want to dispose of sewer but they were also looking for ways of getting revenue from the process. We are going to give them $7 million because they have a good strategy,” he said.

He said most councils lacked capacity and the AfDB was willing to assist them build proper structures through training programmes. “The bank is going to help you. The bank is keen to help you overcome the problems through training. You need to be innovative. The bank will finance you if you have good projects,” he said.

Urban Councils Association of Zimbabwe second vice president Mr Hubert Fidze, who is also Masvingo Mayor, said most local authorities were failing to access loans because of low revenue generation.

“The issue of (revenue) collections is affecting the repayment of loans. On average, in Masvingo we are collecting 60 percent of budgeted revenue but most cities are collecting below 50 percent. In as much as we would like to access this funding, it is very difficult,” Mr Fidze said.

The Mayor of Lusaka Wilson Kalumba said mayors should be civic leaders to aapreciate problems faced by residents. “Once elected a mayor should stop politicking and become a civic leader,” he said.

He said like his Zimbabwean counterparts, his local authority had benefited from Chinese funding to the tune of $350 million for a water and sanitation project. He bemoaned his council’s budget of $40 million which he said was not enough for a population of two million people.

“Two million people sharing a $40 million budget, I don’t think this its fair. We are in a tight corner. There has been a booming infrastructure (development) in Zambia but a few properties are on database because we are short-staffed,” he said.

Event organiser Mr Ntokozo Msipha said the meeting, attended by councils from Sadc members states, was aimed at unlocking investment into the region.

“We have several mayors from the region and we hope delegates will share experiences and will also hear their shortcomings from the major financiers who are also here,” he said.