adminIgnatius Chombo that all 92 rural and urban councils in the country slash rates owed to them by ratepayers from February 2009 to June 30, this year.
Minister Chombo’s directive comes after complaints by residents that MDC-T-led councils unjustifiably increased rates and bills before repossessing stands and houses from citizens who had outstanding bills.
In a statement by MDC-T, the party said the directive would cripple the day- to-day operations of councils the party used to run before they dissolved on June 30.
The MDC-T acknowledged that it dismissed corrupt councillors that had been fingered in malpractice.
“For years Chombo has been unnecessarily meddling in the affairs of councils that are mostly managed by the MDC. For residents to have better service delivery there is a need to pay their bills, which is a source of revenue for councils and failure to do that will result in the decline of this and expose residents to diseases,” read part of the statement.
However, residents welcomed the move to write off the debts.
“Since the dollarisation, bills skyrocketed and MDC-T councillors never came to explain what prompted the rates to be so expensive. We welcome the initiative and it should have been done way back to lessen the burden on us.
“We now want to receive statements with the new tariffs and rates before election day,” Mr Thompson Mlimo of Mbare said.
Mrs Janet Madembo of Glen Norah welcomed the directive and said it was long overdue.
“That is the kind of leadership we want, listening to people’s plight. We were even dying of hunger and the charges left us without anything to buy food. We saw it coming and it has nothing to do with elections.
“We are happy with what he did and this should have been done way back and now it confuses us. It will not surprise us to find that the bills will be existing way after elections.
“They should explain what would happen to the money we paid those councils in between the time frame he mentioned,” Aaron Mpofu of Highfield said.
Harare Residents’ Trust director Mr Precious Shumba on Sunday welcomed the Government directive after residents signed a petition on 19 October 2012, demanding the cancellation of all debt accrued from February 2009 to December 2010, a period which he said was most difficult for residents while no tangible services were rendered by councils.
Last week, at a rally in Chitungwiza, President Mugabe castigated MDC-T councils for repossessing people’s houses because of their failure to pay levies.
He said the nation should vote for leaders who are people-oriented so that they work to make people’s lives easier.
Minister Chombo on Monday said while Government acknowledged that residents should pay their bills for the sustenance of effective and efficient service delivery, economic sanctions had made it difficult “for the generality of the citizenry to meet their obligations”.
He said residents were unable to pay their bills because of high unemployment and underemployment which diminished disposable incomes of the majority, making them unable to pay rent, unit tax, development levy and rates.
The minister urged Zesa Holdings and the Zimbabwe National Water Authority to embrace the same policy to bring relief to the people.
He said the Government policy dovetailed with Zanu-PF’s pro-poor policies that sought to alleviate hardships induced by illegal economic sanctions.
Online Reporter