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Remember Deketeke-Herald Correspondent
THE Harare City Council, which is owed almost a billion ZiG by ratepayers, will soon embark on an exercise to name and shame its debtors as part of efforts to compel them to settle their arrears.
Council spokesperson Mr Stanley Gama revealed the planned extraordinary action in a statement yesterday. Mr Gama said failure by ratepayers to clear their arrears had resulted in the local authority failing to provide essential services because of lack of financial capacity.
“The City of Harare is owed in excess of ZiG 940 million by residents, businesses, parastatals and Government departments among others.
“This money is needed to run city operations and to deliver services. We have since started issuing final demands and summons to our debtors.”
Mr Gama said they would embark on a name and shame exercise to encourage debtors to settle.
“The summons will be served on all our debtors without fear or favour. City council will also embark on a name and shame exercise to encourage debtors to settle if they fail to honour their payments,” he said.
“Names of debtors will be posted on our social media platforms and at all district offices in Harare. To avoid the inconvenience of being taken to court with the possibility of losing property like houses, debtors are urged to immediately settle with the city,” he said.
Council last week said it had issued more than 1 000 court summonses to residents and businesses in a bid to recover part of the ZiG940 million (about US$70 million) is owed in unpaid rates.
More than 1 000 ratepayers with overdue balances exceeding 60 days received 14-day letters of final demand to settle their debts before legal action is taken.
The letters of demand were then followed by court summonses delivered between April 15 and 19.
Council says it plans to issue not less than 2 000 summonses every week.
“The current state of debt is paralysing council operations and council has been left with no choice except to take legal steps.
“Between April 15 and 19, council issued 1 000 summonses to those clients who failed to respond to final demands within the 14-day notice period, and council intends to increase the number of summonses to 2 000 per week.
“These summonses are issued to clients whose debts are 60+ days old and therefore, if one has not cleared their balances since February 1, 2024, then they are definitely candidates for this exercise,” said town clerk Engineer Hosiah Chisango.
The move, Eng Chisango said, was being undertaken in line with Sections 279 and 281 of the Urban Councils Act, which empowers local authorities to institute legal proceedings to recover debts.
Online Reporter