The cash strapped Francistown City Council (FCC) does not have money to pay service providers, building contractors and suppliers for services rendered, it emerged this week.
Francistown Mayor, Shadreck Nyeku, says the Ministry of Lands and Housing was dragging its feet in disbursing funds approved for the development of Francistown, as a result the council is unable to pay for services and works it has commissioned.
Nyeku expressed concern that this was eroding the trust that suppliers, contractors and service providers have on the council and was tarnishing the FCC image.
“Although regular follow ups for approved funds are being done, the problem is torturous to us and has reached a level that cannot be sustained,” Nyeku said.
He stated that regular communications have been made with the Ministry of Lands and Housing but hitherto the efforts have not yielded anything. Nyeku pleaded with FCC service providers, contractors, and suppliers to be patient as they are still battling to sort out the problem.
The mayor further expressed concern at huge sums of money owed to the FCC rate arrears.
“The city council is owed money over P38 million in rates and this is really worrisome as it impedes on our service delivery,” he said. He told the council that efforts to improve collection through house to house campaigns, introduction of swiping machines and advertising of defaulters on newspapers have not helped. Nyeku revealed that so far the city council has only managed to collect P15, 9 million which was collected in the last financial year.