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Ivan Zhakata Herald Correspondent
Harare City Council has issued 10 000 summonses to defaulting ratepayers in a bid to recover part of the $900 million it is owed. The debt, according to council, is preventing it from providing adequate service to ratepayers.
City of Harare’s corporate communications manager Mr Michael Chideme said the 10 000 summonses were for residential and commercial defaulters.
“10 000 summonses have been issued to defaulting ratepayers. This is the first batch of summonses and more will be issued in due course. For convenience, this year we have engaged legal firms not debt collectors.
“Those who do not make the payments will have their properties attached by the Messenger of Court and others will be taken to court. Council is urging debtors to come forward with payment plans or to pay up before legal action is taken. Residents proposing payment plans should at least pay their current bills,” he said.
Announcing the city’s 2020 agenda last week, Town Clerk Engineer Hosiah Chisango said debt recovery was a top priority.
Eng Chisango said council was updating the general valuation roll and exploiting all revenue streams complemented by an efficient billing and tariff modelling.
There was need for council to urgently recover the money to improve service delivery.
“We also need to recover money owed by large debtors, and this requires a business unusual approach,” Eng Chisango said.
Council itself owes various organisations $503 million. The city also requires about $18 million monthly for water treatment chemicals.
Eng Chisango said the city was expecting progress on its new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).
“We started with billing and all other related functions are being worked on. We expect all our operations to be integrated into the new system.”
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