adminSharon Chigeza Mutare Correspondent
Mutare ratepayers are suing council over poor service delivery. Speaking at a Press conference held by United Mutare Residents’ and Ratepayers Trust (UMRRT) in Mutare recently, a representative of the trust, Mr Sebastian Bakare (pictured right), said they had engaged the services of lawyers after the City Fathers refused to meet residents to address their concerns.
“It is with grave concern that we (UMRRT) have decided to take the legal route. Residents have met consistently since March 6, but invitations to council management and councillors have been met with ‘no shows’ or desire to address our concerns,” said Mr Bakare.
“A list of concerns and resolutions was handed over to council but no response has been forthcoming, especially regarding the resolutions. Indeed, two councillors gave us some assurance that they would arrange for a special council meeting in the week ending Friday April 6, but the full council meeting held on April 5 made no mention of our correspondence to council,” he said.
UMRRT said they have since resolved to deposit their rates and levies in a trust account that will be administered by a legal firm, which will hand over the money to the city’s treasury once all their concerns are met.
“We are not advocating for ratepayers to stop paying their dues as many have done already, but to take the responsible action of safeguarding these payments in this trust account. We would also like to take this opportunity to appeal to those ratepayers who have stopped paying to resume and make their payments through this trust account,” said Mr Bakare.
City council spokesperson Mr Spren Mtiwi said he could not comment on the issue as it was now before the courts.
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