Chronicle Editor
Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has since January handed over 9 000 properties in the city to its legal section over unpaid debts and in the event that owners fail to pay, the local authority can take court action to recover the debt which could result in the auctioning of the properties.
BCC is owed $256,9 billion with residents constituting a greater chunk of the debt at $152,5 billion while industry owes $92,8 billion and Government departments owe $21,5 billion. The local authority embarked on a water disconnection programme last month as part of their debt recovery strategies for the money owed in property taxes and service fees by consumers.
According to the latest council report, the billed income from January to September 2023 totalled $329,7 billion, receipts were only $107,4 billion being a collection efficiency of 33 percent against current billing.
“The low collection efficiency was as a result of the impact of exchange rate changes in the ZWL (rebasing) causing timing differences in the payment of bills by customers. It was also overtime attributed to resource constraints in the debt management unit. The debtors figure as at the end of September 2023 was $256,9 billion. At the end of August 2023, the debtors stood at $217,1 billion indicating an increase of $39 Billion or an 18 percent increase in the debt,” reads the report.
The local authority revealed that 9 055 properties had since January been handed over to the legal section with 2 537 given final demands. As per council policy after the issuance of the final demand, the local authority then seeks a court order to recover the debt which could result in the auctioning of the property.
Of the properties handed over to the legal section, Pumula suburb dominates with 2 448 properties followed by Tshabalala with 1 587 properties, Mzilikazi has 1 573 properties handed over to the legal section.
Bulawayo Centre and Africa House were also handed over to the legal section for debts amounting to $63 million and $70 million respectively. In terms of commercial properties, Kumalo has 80 properties that owe $484 million handed over to the legal section, Bellevue has 82 properties that owe $76 million, Parklands 157 properties ($231 million), Famona 24 ($103 million) and North End has 13 commercial stands that owe a total of $42 million handed over to the legal section.
On final demands, Burnside suburb (domestic users) has the highest at 1 063 properties that owe the local authority $736 million being affected with the response amounting to $14,7 million which translates to a two percent efficiency rate. A total of 413 commercial properties in Burnside have also been issued with final demands, owing a total of $500 million, with just $25 million being recovered this translating to a five percent efficiency rate.
“An organisation’s financial health is measured by its ability to meet to obligations towards creditors. Debtors are our source of cash which will be used to meet the demands for services provision. A comparison of our debtors and creditors is a quick measure of council’s financial health. Debtors increased by 18 percent and creditors increased by 14 percent. Council is running the risk of being unable to collect the debt and consequently pay the creditors,” reads the report.
Online Reporter