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Municipal Reporter
Harare City Council is taking legal action against bill defaulters amid revelations that the municipality is owed over US$104 million.
As of May, Government departments owed the city US$15 505 980 and businesses owed US$30 235 032.
Chitungwiza, Norton, Ruwa and Epworth have not paid US$3 451 275,83 for water supplies. The total water debt owed Harare is US$91 678 456.
Some residents have not been paying their bills since July last year even though Government directed that their debts be cancelled.
Harare Residents Trust director Mr Precious Shumba said the city should revamp its billing system, which is prone to manipulation.
“They must introduce a second bill for water and stop making false statements concerning what they are owed by residents.
“Currently, the City of Harare gives residents a composite monthly bill that does not state categorically what each payment is for except to indicate various charges,” he said.
He said residents were frustrated by council’s failure to provide basic services at a time managers were earning “scandalous” salaries.
City spokesperson Mr Leslie Gwindi said council was issuing letters of final demand to defaulters, with some cases already being referred to lawyers for appropriate action.
“The city is also negotiating payment plans with big debtors. Door-to-door visits are being conducted to meet and discuss payment plans,” he said.
Acting city treasurer Mr Tendai Kwenda said revenue inflows were falling because some residents had not paid since July 2013.
“It is such people whom I am afraid will lose their property. I urge them to quickly come to our offices to negotiate payment plans,” he said.
The city bills US$24 million every month but is only able to collect an average US$11 million.
Harare mayor Bernard Manyenyeni yesterday urged residents to pay their bills to enable council to provide quality services.
“We urge residents to settle their bills because service delivery is affected by non-payment of bills,” he said.
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