Pay up or else, residents told

Lovemore Meya Herald Correspondent
Chairperson of the commission running the affairs of Chitungwiza Municipality Mr Madzudzo Pawadyira on Thursday implored residents to settle their bills, failure of which the local authority will have no option but to resort to punitive measures.

Mr Pawadyira said this during the 7th meeting of the caretaker council.
“When we talk of debt collection, it is far less painful if we are collecting as council than giving Mangwana (and Partners) or any of his ilk to do that dirty work for us,” he said.

“Do you tell residents that if we hand them over to debt collectors out there, those are sharks and they will sell any asset, including their dream house?” Mr Pawadyira said failure by residents to comply would invite strong action from the municipality.

“I just want residents to know that if you see your name being submitted to the debt collectors, this would mean that we have failed to reach common ground,” he said.

“This is what we call the last resort, otherwise we try to do debt management with them. It is when everything else has failed that we refer (them) and they stand to lose their precious assets. There comes a time when one would want to seek recourse from a political party chairman, but to no avail. Even those who may be influencing their decision-making will not be there, so you warn them that beyond this there is nothing else.” Chitungwiza is owed millions of dollars by its residents, firms and Government.