adminMidlands Correspondent
SOME residents of Gweru have accused the city council of being insincere in implementing a Government directive ordering local authorities to write-off water and rates debts accrued between February 2009 and June this year. The residents made the accusations after they allegedly received inflated bills for the month of July.
They alleged the council’s inflated July bills were a deliberate move designed to help the local authority get its dues erased through the Government directive.
They said the council should reverse the bills before they take up the case with the relevant ministry.
“We cannot allow the council to get away with such daylight robbery. They have to reverse the ‘inflated’ July bills or we take the matter up with the Ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development. We are certainly not going to pay these inflated bills,” said Mr Thomas Nekati of Mambo.
Gweru’s Chronicle office switchboard was jammed with calls from residents who wanted to express their displeasure with the July bills.
Ms Patience Mushuku of Lundi Park suburb came to the Chronicle Gweru office armed with her three statements for May, June and July to argue her case.
In May her rates and water account indicated that she was owed $33.75 by the city council as her statement indicated a -$33.75.
For June, the cut-off point of the Government directive for councils to scrap debts, Ms Mushuku’s statement reflected a bill of – $42.30.
However, her July bill ballooned to $172.35 against the May and June statements. Ms Mushuku said this was a deliberate ploy by the council to salvage money from the debts they were directed to cancel by the Government.
“There were two or so other residents with similar problems at the Revenue Hall. However, I am here to present my case. What drove me to act is the attitude of the council staff. They exhibited an indifferent attitude to my problem. One lady told me that it was possible I could have used a lot of water.
She said the council installed new meters and it was possible that the old meter was not functioning properly. I tried to tell the council staff that I have a small family and we spend the greater part of the day away either at work or at school. They then suggested that I check whether there were no water leakages underground following the alleged installation of the new meter,” said Ms Mushuku.
She said she never saw council workers installing the new meter. She said she will only pay the bill after being given a satisfactory explanation by the council.
“Their explanation is far from being convincing. I don’t believe it’s such a coincidence. How can we start wasting water just after the Government has reversed domestic consumers’ debts? I did not owe the council anything in May and June. In fact it is the council who owed us money.
It’s surprising that I only got to owe them money after the Government directive’s cut-off point had elapsed. If you believe such coincidences then you are bound to believe anything. I have decided not to settle the bill until the council gives me a satisfactory answer as to how the bill ballooned to such frightening levels,” said Ms Mushuku.
Investigations by Chronicle proved that there were isolated cases of residents still receiving bills with huge amounts.
Town Clerk Mr Daniel Matawu said the city council had fully implemented the Government directive and written-off all debts that the residents owed the local authority.
In an interview yesterday, Mr Matawu said city residents have since started receiving new updated bills.
He said people like Ms Mushuku who may have queries should not hesitate to approach council at town house.
Mr Matawu said such cases were isolated and “an anomaly that could be corrected”.
“We have since implemented the Government directive and written off the bills for water, sewer and rates that the residents owed the council,” said Mr Matawu.
Meanwhile, Gweru residents yesterday hailed the Gweru City Council for implementing the Government directive.
They said the move came as a relief to most of them as they were burdened by the huge debts.
“We are very happy with what the Government has done for us. The Gweru City Council has since implemented the directive and I now owe the council only $4 instead of the $200 which was reflecting on my bill in the previous months,” said an elderly Mrs Sonia Marufu from Mtapa suburb.
Mr Lameck Mambo said he hoped the moratorium could be extended to electricity bills. He said most residents who were not yet on pre-paid electricity meters were struggling to settle their power bills.
“Yes we are happy with the development in as far as our water bills are concerned. We, however, hope the Government will issue the same directive to Zesa to write-off our debts. Some of these bills are not justifiable and should just be cancelled,” he said.
Gweru Residents and Ratepayers Association chairman, Mr Cornelius Selipiwe, said the cancelling of debts was a welcome relief to residents who were hard pressed for money.
“I was in Mtapa yesterday and everyone was quite happy with the development. We want to thank the Government and Gweru City Council on this,” he said.
Mr Selipiwe urged residents to pay their water and rates bills to avoid being overwhelmed by such debts again.
“The challenge is now on us, the residents. We should develop a culture of servicing our accounts religiously so that our council gets revenue to help it improve service delivery,” he said.
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