Solwezi Municipal Council (SMC) collected revenue of over K460, 000 from markets and bus stations from January to July this year.
Solwezi town clerk Bornwell Luanga disclosed in an interview that the local authority collects on average over K66, 000 as revenue from markets and bus stations monthly.
Mr. Luanga revealed that in January this year, the council collected K87, 563.76 and K68, 453.48 in February while K76, 018.94 was collected in March.
“And in April, the council collected about K67, 585.10 and K57, 373.16 was collected in May while K65, 118.02 and K44, 049.90 was collected in June and July,” disclosed Mr. Luanga.
He said the directive by President-elect Hakainde Hichilema to United Party for National Development (UPND) supporters to handover revenue collection from markets and bus stations to councils is a welcome move which is in line with the law.
Mr. Luanga said the presence of cadres in bus stations and markets created chaos where ordinary people and council officers were being harassed.
He said the pronouncement from the incoming head of State will make people feel safe in public places and also enable council officers operate within the confines of the law.
“We are grateful that we are getting this support because indeed in the past I know there are councils where it was difficult for them to operate in markets and bus stations,” Mr. Luanga said.
Mr. Luanga said this will help councils collect more revenue from the two public facilities to go towards improving service delivery to the people.
“We didn’t have much of that problem in Solwezi in terms of the cadres and I don’t think we had that issue where cadres took over any of our establishments but where I saw cadres collecting monies is at Mitec layby which is also not an established station but we are certainly moving in,” he said.
He said some three months ago, suspected Patriotic Front (PF) cadres attempted to take over the collection of fees at the main bus station but police moved in and stopped the illegality.
Mr. Luanga also said there could be some callboys in the bus stations who do not even represent any political party and the council will put in measures to ensure there is sanity at the bus stations.
He revealed that in the markets, there were no cadres that had established their presence but if there were any then the instructions are very clear.
“And I have just received a letter from the permanent secretary from the ministry of Local Government and no one will be allowed to collect any money from the traders other than the council,” Mr. Luanga said.
