adminPamela Shumba Senior Reporter
RESIDENTS in Gwanda have accused Gwanda Municipality officials of lacking transparency and accountability in managing council funds, a development that has seen council workers going for months without being paid.Sources within the council told Chronicle that the local authority hired a debt collecting company to assist with the recovery of its money and it emerged that residents owed the council less than $300,000. The municipality, on the other hand, claims residents owe it more than $2 million.
Sources said the local authority’s system is in shambles as hundreds of residents are not being billed for water consumed while others have gone for months without water but are receiving bills every month. Officials at the Gwanda Town House stand accused of embezzling council funds and using non-payment of bills as a scapegoat for not paying salaries.
“The council has been claiming that it is owed more than $2,4 million by residents. A debt collecting company called Inno-Tech was hired to assist with recovering the money and it discovered that only $268,000 is owed by residents.
“This means that some officials are abusing council funds or the council simply does not have records that show the situation on the ground. I wonder how the council intends to pay the $7 million it owes Zinwa yet it is not owed that much by the residents,” said one worker who requested anonymity.
Residents said there was corruption within the council which was adversely affecting service delivery. “As residents, we’re paying bills.
There’s always a long queue at the council revenue hall because people are willing to pay. The problem is that council officials and councillors are not dedicated to their work.
“Right now people are receiving bills yet there’s no water connected to their houses. Others are actually not being billed yet they’ve been using council water for years.
“In some cases, you find more than eight residents using one water meter and receiving separate bills at the end of the month. This is daylight robbery,” said one resident.
The mayor, Clr Knowledge Ndlovu, however, dismissed reports that the council is owed less than $300,000, saying the debt had actually gone up to about $8 million.
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