Of the total money that the council is owed, $300 000 should be paid by A2 farmers, who have large tracts of land in the area, ranging from 500 to 1 500 hectares.
According to the Finance Act of 2009, the farmers should pay $2 per hectare as a development levy, but Vungu council has slashed the figure by half in order to persuade them to pay up. This has not worked, and Chief Executive Wellington Ngulube said the council had called for a crisis meeting with the farmers recently and announced that March 31 was the deadline for paying the fees. However, this has not yielded much.
“We continue to call upon for a polite and friendly solution to this problem,” he told The Zimbabwean.
Ngulube also indicated that though the council is also owed money by various companies, miners and other sectors, the farmers from the single largest group that has not been cooperating in the matter of payments.
“We encourage the farmers to pay because of that money, 70% will go back to them in forms of developmental projects like road maintenance,” he said.
If the farmers do not pay, Ngulube noted, the council will be forced to take the legal route.
Vungu district stretches from just outside Gweru city to Lower Gweru, and includes areas like Maboleni.
Post published in: News