City of Harare under fire

parking fees by the city council.

During a public hearing conducted by the CTC in Harare on Tuesday, Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries representative Mr Kuda Matare said the inadequate services by the City of Harare were affecting the viability of business as they were presenting an extra cost that was being transferred to the consumers.

“Rates are a fixed cost, so business has to pay them whether the service being paid for is delivered or not,” he said.
He said the city council should help lower the cost of doing business by lowering rates for efficiency in the provision of services.

“When companies are viable and competitive it increases the revenue base for Government to collect tax and also for the city council to collect rates,” Mr Matare said.

Combined Harare Residents Association spokesperson Mr Reuben Akili said council had been billing residents who had not been receiving water for months.

“Residents in the northern suburbs and some high-density areas like Mabvuku and Tafara spent a long time without receiving Harare water, but they still got billed for water they have not used,” he said.

He urged the city fathers to scrap the fixed water charge or have it absorbed in the consumption bill so as to avoid charging residents for water they were not receiving.

Harare Residents Trust co-ordinator Mr Precious Shumba said the city council should improve its communication channels with citizens to ensure transparency in the council’s operations.

Harare Town Clerk Dr Tendai Mahachi denied the allegations that the council was shortchanging residents.

“Our water is cheap compared to other councils in the region because we recognise that we have to make some of these services affordable to consumers.

“We want to see if we can subsidise the ratepayers, the money we charge cannot be used to fund infrastructure because its not enough so we borrow to finance rehabilitation of the infrastructure,” he said.