adminWhile Gweru residents have for the past four years, been enduring erratic water supplies, Mkoba Village 19 residents have not been receiving water from their taps for the past 10 years with the council failing to pump water to the suburb.
The city council, owed more than $10 million in tariff arrears by residents, has been sending letters of final demand to households since last week.
Some residents from Mkoba Village 19 who have since received the letters of demand yesterday thronged Mr Matawu’s office seeking to have their bills nullified.
The residents who were waving the letters of demands as placards were, however, driven out of Mr Matawu’s office by security personnel.
They were ordered to go and wait for Mr Matawu in the council chambers so that they could be addressed.
But Mr Matawu did not turn up for the meeting and instead sent a Mr Marerwa from his office, much to the chagrin of the residents.
The residents went on to boo Mr Marerwa while they insisted on seeing Mr Matawu.
“We don’t want you (Mr Marerwa) here we want Mr Matawu to explain why Mkoba 19 residents are receiving these dubious letters of demand when we have not been getting water in the suburb for the past 10 years,” one of the angry residents was overheard as saying.
Mr Marerwa with the help of some security personnel then managed to book a meeting between the Town Clerk and the residents on Tuesday next week.
In interviews, the residents said they were incensed by the fact that Gweru City Council was still demanding money from them despite the fact that they have not been getting any services that include water for years.
“For the past 10 years, we have not seen even a drop of water from our taps but surprisingly the council still wants money as part of the water and sewer services from us why?,” asked one of the resident, Mr Luke Kudita.
Mr Kudita said they have been engaging the council for several years to have them excused from continuing paying water and sewer rates.
“At some point the Mayor, Councillor Tedious Chimombe and the Town Clerk agreed to have our bills cancelled. They also agreed that we are exempted from paying water and sewer rates but it seems this was yet to be implemented,” he said.
Another resident, Mrs Memory Nkala said they were shocked to receive letters of final demand from the council to pay for a service, which they were not getting.
“It’s surely ridiculous! We are not getting water, we have been using bucket system for the past ten years but the council still wants money from us,” she said.
Mr Matawu could not be contacted for comment, as he was not responding to several calls from Chronicle on his mobile phone.
Online Reporter
Londile Moyo