peterVusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
BULAWAYO city councillors are reportedly at loggerheads with council management over a recent resolution where councillors directed management to effect a 50 percent discount to residents who pay their bills in foreign currency.
A couple of weeks ago, councillors proposed to offer residents willing to settle their bills in foreign currency a 50 percent discount.
This was after a public outcry over a resolution where the local authority directed that they will be now indexing their bills in foreign currency, with residents being able to pay tariffs in local currency using the auction rate as per the day of billing.
It has since emerged that there is serious discord within the council chambers as council management has made it clear that they will not implement the resolution as it contravenes Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe regulations.
Impeccable council sources revealed that the matter was brought up for discussion during last Wednesday’s council in-committee meeting where councillors reportedly declared that as policy makers they had every right to direct what action management should take.
“Management led by the Town Clerk (Mr Christopher Dube) attempted to resist the move saying it was illegal, as per the country’s exchange regulations.
“However, councillors made it clear that they want the discount to be effected.
Councillors further reprimanded the Town Clerk and his team for issuing the notice for the indexing of bills in foreign currency without consulting them and only did so after it was already in the public domain,” said the source.
The city’s mayor, Councillor Solomon Mguni and the Town Clerk, Mr Dube were last Thursday, during a service delivery update media briefing at pains trying to explain the official position, both avoiding to commit themselves on an actual position.
Clr Mguni said they were going to see how management was going to implement the issue saying all that was being done was in the interest of the public.
“The matter was indeed deliberated on during the council in-committee meeting on Wednesday, the bottom line is that the decisions that were made were mainly in the interest of the public.
So now we leave it to see how the management will implement the resolutions of council,” said the mayor.
Pressed further on the percentage discount to be effected Clr Mguni could not be drawn to give the final position of the local authority.
Mr Dube on the other had insinuated that despite the directive from councillors management would not be implementing the resolution.
“Suffice to say as management our duty is to then take any resolution, we go over it, look at the legal implications and if it is not implementable we then go back to council and inform them of this position.
For now all I can say is that since the resolution was passed yesterday (Wednesday) we are yet to go over it and we will be advising accordingly once this is done,” said the Town Clerk.
In coming up with the resolution councillors had said the council, which is owed $5 billion, would rather get half of the amount in foreign currency and write off the rest of the bill as that would go a long way in improving service delivery.
The local authority announced the decision to index bills in foreign currency starting on 1 June as a way of hedging against inflation.
Last week it was reported that the local authority was forced to review nearly 120 000 incorrect bills in 19 of the city’s 26 wards with more expected to come, as residents raised a red flag over the high bills they have been receiving.
Online Reporter