The Zambia United Local Authorities Workers Union (ZULAWU) in Mazabuka says the K 359 million grant given to the council as compensation for scrapping off crop levy is inadequate compared to hundreds of millions of Kwacha the council used to collect.
ZULAWU branch chairperson, Crinco Mushiba explained to ZANIS in Mazabuka today that government should consider sourcing for the deficit to pay the local authority if it was to sustain its operations.
Mr. Mushiba said it was unfair for the government to abolish crop levy when it cannot release enough grants to compensate the council.
He said the abolition should have been targeted at small scale farmers and not commercial farmers who are benefiting a lot from crops.
He noted that the council’s as service delivery and payment of salaries to its workers will now be difficult.
Mr. Mushiba said Mazabuka municipal council owes retirees, statutory bodies such as Local Authority Superannuation Fund (LASF) and National Pension Scheme Authority (NAPSA) billions of Kwacha through unremitted statutory obligations.
He said unless government revisits the abolition of crop levy, the operations in most local authorities who depended so much on crop levy will ground to a halt.
Mr. Mushiba also lamented that it was unfair for the government not to listen to the ZULAWU national leadership’s concerns over the abolition of the crop levy.
ZANIS
