Establishment of new council committees blocked

Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor 

THE Bulawayo City Council recently blocked a motion proposing additional council standing committees saying the local authority is not prepared to meet the financial burden that comes with the new portfolios.

Council also highlighted that the interests of the proposed committees were adequately represented in other committees.

A motion was moved by Ward 22 Councillor, Mmeli Thobeka Moyo, calling for the establishment of a Marketing, Communication, Small and Medium Enterprise committee and Youth, Gender and Disability committee.

“I move the motion that the following committees be constituted and adopted as independent structures: The Marketing, Communication, Small and Medium Enterprise committee and the Youth, Gender and Disability committee.

“I propose this motion for equal and inclusive representation and to suffice the demands of council business in the areas that need the attention of the said committees,” reads the motion.

In responding to the motion, council directors noted that the two proposed committees were already fully being catered for in other committees and departments.

“After careful consideration of the motion, the human capital director (Mr Makhosi Tshalebwa) was of the view that: — the functions of marketing and SMEs were catered for under the current Business and Investment Committee. The element of Corporate Communication which was vested in the Town Clerk’s office would be better co-ordinated by the Town Clerk (Mr Christopher Dube).

“The Health, Housing and Education Committee catered for the promotion of youth development under the community services section in the Department of Housing and Community Services. Issues of gender and disability currently came under the portfolio of the General Purposes Committee in terms of reference of standing committee,” reads a council report on the issue.

Mr Tshalebwa suggested that if the policymakers were keen to have specific committees, the other route could be reliance on sub-committees and special ad-hoc committees as provided for under Sections 99 and 100 of the Urban Councils Act.

“The financial director supported the formation of a gender committee which would articulate issues of youths, gender and disability. The departments of human capital and housing and community services would generate material to be considered by this committee. It was Government policy that gender committees be established, several local authorities had established such committees, to champion gender issues.

“Establishing committees came with increased costs as chairpersons would be paid allowances at a higher rate than what they were currently being paid. It was therefore prudent to limit the number of committees to contain costs. To set up a committee to handle marketing issues, it was required to set up structures that would support marketing. It was therefore advisable to first set up the structures,” reads the report.

After full deliberations, councillors resolved to block the motion noting that these proposed new committees would essentially duplicate the functions of the existing ones.

“The Deputy Mayor (Clr Edwin Ndlovu) shared the same sentiments as other councillors. He raised concerns about the financial burden that would arise from establishing additional committees. He emphasised that priority should be given to service delivery,” reads the report.

Council standing committees are primarily guided by Section 96 of the Urban Councils Act (Chapter 29:15) with the City of Bulawayo having six such committees, namely finance and development, health, housing and education, environmental management and engineering services, future water supplies and water action, town lands and planning and the general purpose committees.

The local authority also has two ad-hoc committees; the business and investment and the audit committee and one sub-committee on the allocation of stands.