Schools owe Kwekwe City $25 million in water bills

Michael Magorong, Midlands Correspondent
KWEKWE City Council has resolved to engage schools in the city so that they settle water bills amounting to $25 million which it says is adversely affecting its cash flow.

At a full council meeting on Monday, it was resolved that each councillor should engage schools in his or her ward to encourage school authorities to clear their arrears.

The schools that are facing challenges will be asked to come up with payment plans which they have to strictly adhere to.

The council said it was struggling to provide services and pay its debts to service providers because ratepayers which include schools were not paying their bills.

The local authority which owes service providers $362 million, is owed $2 billion by ratepayers that include Government departments which are in arrears of $94 million.

According to the Director of Finance Mrs Rejoice Dandira, the local authority has been under pressure from service providers who are demanding payment upfront.

“We have some service providers who are now demanding cash upfront in some cases in USD. We are therefore encouraging ratepayers to clear their arrears including schools,” said Mrs Dandira.
The local authority recently introduced a 50 percent discount for ratepayers who settle their outstanding bills in US Dollars in a bid to entice the ratepayers to pay in forex.

Amaveni Primary school which owes $4,2million and Kwekwe High School which owes $3,7million have been cited as the major debtors.

Ward 8 Councillor Edumakomborero Mlambo, however, was against the disconnection of water to schools.

“People in areas surrounding the school have not been accessing potable water for a long time and they are the ones who fetch water from the school hence the huge bill. I am therefore against the disconnection of water because this huge bill is as a result of council failing to provide water to residents,” he said.

Clr Mlambo said he would engage the school head for a payment plan.

He urged the council to ensure that the water problems are solved so that people do not continue accessing water from the school.

“The borehole is not functioning properly leaving residents with no option but to fetch water from the school,” said Cllr Mlambo.

Town Clerk Dr Lucia Mnkandla said the water crisis in Amaveni was very critical and should be addressed urgently.

“The issue raised by Clr Mlambo is very critical and together with the Works department, we are going to look into it starting today,” she said.

Dr Mnkandla said the schools should take measures to reduce or clear their bills.

“These schools need to pay and we need to engage them through the heads and the School Development Committees and explain to them what it means to pay water bills. I encourage councillors to engage them,” she said.

Dr Mnkandla commended councillors and management for working together to ensure that there is effective service delivery.

“I am really delighted by the teamwork I am seeing here and if we continue like this, we are going to move the proverbial mountains. Even with limited resources we will continue delivering services as long as we remain united,” said Dr Mnkandla.