Rutendo Chirume

Masvingo City Council is contemplating introducing a roads levy to raise revenue to procure road construction and maintenance equipment, EnviroPress can report.

This came out during a full council meeting held at the council premises on March 24 March, 2025.

Speaking at the full council meeting, Cllr Bernard Muchokwa of Ward 9 pleaded with Deputy Mayor Daniel Mberikunashe to see to it that the road levy was urgently introduced.

“The levy should actually have been implemented long before. I am pleading with Your Worship that this suggestion comes to effect as soon as possible,” said Muchokwa.

Public Works Committee Chairperson, Cllr Richard Musekiwa later told EnviroPress that the levy would improve the municipality’s capacity to maintain roads and related infrastructure.

“Our roads are in a bad state because of lack of funding, and that is why we are introducing the roads levy. The money will be used to buy the machinery needed,” said Musekiwa.

He said the occasional disbursements released by ZINARA were a far cry from what was needed to maintain the infrastructure.  

The last roads levy was introduced in 2015 and it faced strong resistance from residents who protested the council’s alleged profligacy and misplaced priorities.

The current council faces similar criticism after approving the purchase of Samsung S24 phones for councillors ostensibly to facilitate ‘smooth communication’ with residents.

A price survey conducted by TechZim in January shows that the cheapest retailers were trading one unit of the phone at as much as US$1450.