adminMasvingo Correspondent
MASVINGO residents owe council $23 million in unpaid rates, the mayor, Councillor Hubert Fidze, has said, urging consumers to support service delivery.Clr Fidze said the local authority was struggling to provide adequate service delivery and blamed residents, the business community and government departments for failing to pay bills on time.
“Residents, the business community and government departments sit on a $23 million debt in unpaid bills to Masvingo council.
“The greater part of that debt is owed by government departments.”
Clr Fidze said council has engaged the government over the issue and was promised that payment would be made soon.
He said service delivery was compromised by the low revenue collected per month.
“We are collecting only $1,4 million per month instead of about $3 million and that translates to 50 percent of the total revenue that has to be collected. It’s a pity considering the financial need that the council has. We have more work to do but we’re collecting very little,” said Clr Fidze.
He urged residents’ associations to also engage their members on the need to support service delivery.
Clr Fidze said residents should not wait for council to cut water supplies to pay their debts because it was expensive to restore supplies after being cut.
“It’s not necessarily about paying in full but at least come up with something. After all, the law will eventually take its course but that route is always expensive because we spend more to get little,” he said.
Masvingo United Ratepayers and Residents Association (MURRA) co-ordinator Anotida Muguti concurred with the mayor and pledged to work with council.
“If council works with us in improving the city, there is no reason why we would fail to improve service delivery. We will encourage residents to pay,” he said.
Online Reporter