adminTHE country is facing serious financial bottlenecks that have greatly affected service delivery by local authorities – rural and urban.
There is no money to fund a litany of community projects as well as maintain infrastructure to desired levels.
Local authorities have been greatly affected by the prevailing harsh economic climate because they depend on money from ratepayers who are also singing the blues.
The existing relationship between our local authorities and ratepayers is that of a mother to a new-born baby.
Without the mother’s milk, the baby will not survive and hence life becomes difficult for the baby if the mother produces less milk.
Elsewhere in this issue we carry a story in which the Mutare City Council has engaged the services of debt collectors to follow-up on defaulting households and companies.
The move is meant to arm-twist ratepayers to pay up bill arrears which have since ballooned to close to $30 million.
Debt collectors have started their work, but the rate at which defaulters are responding to the demand letters is not pleasing. Residents are dragging their feet to clear bills and this is disastrous especially when the local authority solely relies on payment of rates for survival.
What it means is that when ratepayers sneeze the local authority will catch the cold.
We urge household to prioritise the payment of rates for service delivery to improve. Council is failing to pay workers because there is no money.
Yes, times are hard, but sacrifices have to be made for the city to progress. It is wiser for residents to pay rates and complain about poor service delivery and not the other way.
At present, if people complain of deteriorating service standard, those responsible at the Civic Centre will simply reply that there is nothing they can do about it because you are not paying up.
Ratepayers will be best placed to demand better service if they do so with clean hands.
In the same vein, we urge the Mutare City Council to think outside the box and venture into other money spinning activities to generate more revenue.
Contemporary macro-economic dynamics have shown that local authorities cannot be adequately funded by money from ratepayers because of wide spread unemployment as well as a general breakdown of the economy globally.
The $800 000 that Mutare City Council is collecting monthly from a few ratepayers that are still honouring their bills can be invested elsewhere and generate more.
Some decades ago council beer halls used to generate money for the local authority but today they are facing stiff competition from private players who are doing business better.
We concur with the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and Rural Development, Cde Saviour Kasukuwere, when he urged local authorities to venture into business.
He also urged them to improve service delivery first before asking to be paid.
In the same vein there is need for public/private partnership in the provision of some services that are giving councils headaches.
Private players will come on board, team up with local authorities and provide services.
When services are availed ratepayers will not hide behind the finger to justify defaulting.
Online Reporter