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ALMOST daily in the news are cases of people losing their houses and household property after defaulting on loan repayments or not paying for services rendered to them by various providers.
People have been left homeless after putting up their houses as collateral when borrowing from banks while others have had their houses creamed off all property. The major problem, in the case of banks, has been repayment while in the case of the Harare City Council it has been residents’ truancy on paying their bills.
As a result, council has been forced as last resort, to serve over 20 000 residents with summons to attach property in a bid to recover money that it is owed.
It is the reluctance by people, for whatever reasons, to service their loans and pay their bills that has driven council and banks to take these extreme measures notwithstanding the economic challenges.
Reports that council is owed $500 million by residents, Government and business is a matter of serious concern as it has strong correlation with service delivery. Service delivery is dependent on the residents paying their bills.
While it is the mandate of council to provide water and sanitation, to ensure refuse collection and a good road network, among other things, residents must play their part by meeting their own side of the bargain — paying their bills.
From the property attachment notices we read every day in the Press, it is clear that residents, while they are quick to blame council for poor service, have contributed to the deterioration of services by not settling their bills as they fall due.
No one derives joy from attaching houses and household property and leaving residents worse off, but the pressure to perform forces council to do so hoping that it will send a strong message to others on the importance of paying bills.
Most residents just neglect paying the small amounts which then grow into thousands of dollars to a point they become difficult to service. Before we attack council for failing to provide services, as residents we must look at ourselves in the mirror and ascertain the role we play towards ensuring that service.
We cannot expect council to produce miracles like the new pentecostal churches. Without money, it cannot provide services to expectations. Everything should begin with us residents showing willingness to pay our bills before they balloon to levels that create problems for us.
Where we cannot service our bills for various reasons, we should be able to approach council and agree on a payment plan which we should, by all means, try to adhere to.
By paying our bills, we will be capacitating council to do its job to the benefit of all of us. At the moment, it is difficult to justify the attacks heaped on council for poor service when residents are not playing ball. It fact, the whole thing becomes a burden on those who pay their bills regularly, but are not getting due service because of the delinquency of the majority.
The same applies to business and Government which are quick to blame council for incompetence yet they owe council millions of dollars.
When we begin to honour our obligations as residents, Government and business, then we can start questioning council for failing to deliver. Right now we have little moral authority to blame council when it is owed $500 million by residents, Government and business.
Our roads are filled with potholes, which we complain about every day and blame council for not doing anything about them. Yet by paying our bills we are empowering council to start doing something about the potholes and other services we wish it to provide.
Let us save our houses and household property from being attached by making a commitment to pay our bills and to stick to our repayment plans.
Online Reporter