CHITUNGWIZA residents have accused their municipality of double taxation after the authorities introduced a new road levy in their 2021 budget. 

Presenting the municipality’s budget on Tuesday, authorities said motorists would be charged a roads levy that was aimed at rehabilitation of the road infrastructure. 

This was received with mixed feelings by residents and stakeholders, who immediately challenged the proposal. 

Most residents are disappointed because motorists already pay a road levy to the Zimbabwe National Roads Administration (Zinara). 

Zinara in turn, forwards funds to all the councils and municipalities around the country on a prorated scale depending on the number of registered and paid-up vehicles in each area.   

Chitungwiza Residents Trust executive director, Alice Kuvheya said they were not pleased with the road levy initiative which was passed without proper consultation. 

“The budget has already been passed by the ministry but as residents, we are rejecting it because we were not consulted. We rejected the road levy because we have said that we cannot be seen paying double taxes. 

“The mayor said Chitungwiza has over 30 000 cars but had only received $3,6 million towards road rehabilitation around September which was not enough to cover the projects hence the introduction of the roads levy. 

“I think the only option we have left is for us to go the devolution route which we are pushing for as residents. We would want devolution that ensures that Zinara is brought back into councils so that we see full realisation of our contributions,” Kuvheya said. 

The residents are now weighing their legal options and want to fight the imposition of the road levy in court. 

“We have already engaged our lawyers and will not allow this to happen. There is massive corruption at Chitungwiza and in almost every audit you find the authorities being major players in corrupt activities. We will not allow them to fleece people through the road levy,” Kuvheya added. 

However, Chitungwiza mayor Lovemore Maiko reiterated the need to respond to the bad state of their roads adding that the new levy was one of the measures to address the problem without revealing how this would be implemented.