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Sukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
Plumtree Town Council is conducting a door-to-door debt collection exercise in a bid to improve its revenue. The strategy was also being done to enhance the town’s financial position and prevent residents and ratepayers’ debts ballooning again after the Government ordered a freeze of old bills that accrued from 2009 to June this year.
In an interview yesterday, Plumtree Town Secretary Mr Davis Dumezweni Luthe said the local authority had dispatched four teams that were moving from household to household collecting levies.
He said the teams were collecting levies which had accumulated from July to September.
“We are currently holding a door-to-door debt collection exercise which will last for about two months. We dispatched four teams a week ago and this exercise will run until the end of October.
“We are collecting sanitation levies in both low and high density areas as well as in medium density areas,” he said.
Mr Luthe said the exercise sought to boost the local authority’s rate collection system.
“We held a stakeholders’ meeting following the Government reprieve and we saw it best to ensure residents remain up-to-date with their payments. As a result we saw it best to dispatch teams into the community.
“We are trying to discourage residents from neglecting paying their bills until they accumulate large amounts which are impossible to clear while our service delivery system is crippled in the process,” said Mr Luthe.
He said the recent reprieve by Government on defaulters had assisted in inculcating a will of making payments among residents.
“Some residents had totally boycotted making payments because of the huge debts which they had accumulated. They are now starting from scratch and they have been co-operating so far.
“We are collecting levies which have accumulated from the month of July to August this year as was directed by Government,” he said.
Mr Luthe said the debt collecting teams comprised council workers from the finance department and municipal police.
From next year, he said the exercise would be held monthly.
The Government announced just before the 31 July harmonised elections that the country’s 92 local authorities had to cancel debts accrued by residents between February 2009 and 30 June this year.
The directive was meant to bring relief to millions of Zimbabweans who have been economically disempowered by illegal sanctions, which the MDC-T invited from its Western sponsors in a bid to force illegal regime change.
In response to the directive, Plumtree Town cancelled debts amounting to $1 million which were owed by residents.
These had accumulated from 13 August 2009. They comprised assessment rates paid by residents in low density areas, sanitation levies and rentals paid for council leased houses.
Online Reporter