adminTHE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has opted to name and shame the worst performing suburbs in the city in terms of payment of rates and rentals, it has been learnt.
According to the latest council report, the local authority has compiled a list of all 29 wards in the city, which details the payment patterns by residents in the city for the months of January to May 2014.
Ward 16 under Councillor Nephat Sibanda, which comprises Enqameni, Luveve 1, 2 and 3, Gwabalanda Extension and Luveve North is the best in terms of revenue collection with a collection rate of 97 percent. Of a total owing of $840 911, in the said five months, the residents managed to pay $812 729.
Ward One, which is the city centre, is second and has a collection rate of 85 percent where they managed to pay $5 189 045 out of a total owing of $6 073 656. Ward One is led by the youngest councillor in the city, Clr Mlandu Ncube.
Ward 20 is the third best paying ward, where residents managed to pay $307 175 of the $393 997 they owed, which translates to a payment percentage of 78. The ward is under Nkulumane 1 and 12, Kelvin West and East and is under Clr Earnest Rafamoyo.
However, the bottom three wards are Ward 22 which is the worst; followed by Ward Two and Ward Four.
Ward 22 has a paltry collection rate of two percent, where out of a total owing of $306 426 residents there only managed to pay $5 569, meaning that the residents were paying just above $1 000 per month in the five months under consideration.
The ward is under Clr Rodney Jele and comprises Nkulumane Two and Three and some sections of Nkulumane Five, Nkulumane Four and Nketa Six.
Contacted for comment, the city’s mayor, Clr Martin Moyo said the idea was not to expose residents or wards in terms of failing to pay off what they owed to the local authority but was all a matter of encouraging them to contribute something towards service delivery.
“What we are saying is that people have to understand the challenges we are facing as a city, we strongly rely on them as ratepayers to pay so that we offer satisfactory service delivery. If they do not pay the city then is on a standstill.
“We took this route so as to encourage our residents to at least try to contribute the little they have because they cannot just neglect their debts to a point that they fail to manage them, at the end they will end up being distressed when various service providers then come forward to attach their properties,” said Clr Moyo.
He said through their interaction with residents, especially within the worst performing wards, they had singled out the liquidity crunch for failing to pay off their debts.
The mayor noted that it was the responsibility of the councillors to engage residents and ensure that they at least pay whatever they could so as to boost service delivery.
In the mayor’s ward the collection rate is pegged at 62 percent, where residents paid $1 268 525 of which they owed $2 061 580.
Meanwhile, according to the report the local authority is owed a total of $84 287 900, with domestic users owing $42 847 094, industry and commerce $37 166 764 and Government departments owing $4 274 042.
This comes against the backdrop of the council owing a total of $83 468 914 to various other service providers, with a huge chunk of this debt being to the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority which they owe $40 458 635.
However, in terms of Government indebtedness, the Ministry of Finance reportedly set off a total of $2,3 million to Zimra and other government departments save for the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa).
“The Ministry of Finance has effected a set-off amount of US$2,3 million to Zimra and various Government accounts would be credited accordingly. However, Government expected the Ministry of Education and Zinwa to settle their indebtedness to the City of Bulawayo,” reads the report.
Online Reporter