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Auxilia Katongomara, Business Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) is suing the Bulawayo City Council over an $80 million debt which the local authority has failed to settle.
The power utility filed the $80 352 171,16 lawsuit through the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company after the local authority allegedly failed to pay the money emanating from the supply of electricity to its departments.
The amounts are divided as follows: water and sewerage pump stations $64 431 362,54, Bulawayo West $13 448 185,67 and Bulawayo East $2 472 622,95.
Mrs Sikhangele Zhou who was the acting town clerk last month, told councilors that Zesa had refused to enter into an offset deal on grounds that the BCC owed it more money.
“The Acting Town Clerk advised that the 2017 budget may not be approved if council did not address the issue of debtors. She confirmed that Zesa had now instituted legal action to recover its money owed and council was being sued for consumption,” read the minutes.
“She confirmed that Zesa had taken over council’s infrastructure for power generation among other entities for example power lines, station and buildings. Council’s counter claims were greater than Zesa’s,” read the minutes in part.
The Mayor Councillor Martin Moyo also felt that Zesa should be approached on the debt issue as it also owed council a lot of money.
“He observed that council’s counter claim was more than Zesa’s and it would be ideal to off-set such debts,” he said.
Financial Director Kempton Ndimande explained that in respect of statutory debtors, the Government had agreed that Zinwa and council off-set what they owed each other.
“The challenge was with Zesa which owed council royalties. Council had failed to recover the money as Zesa claimed that nothing was owed to council.
‘‘Zesa had also split into smaller organisations/companies and this created challenges for council,” read the minutes.
There is no consensus on the amounts owed.
Council says it owed Zesa $68 million by the end of August this year while the power utility said the amount was $80 million as of April.
However, the municipality also says it was owed $62 million by Zesa as of June this year in royalties for the use of infrastructure the power utility took over some years ago.
@AuxiliaK
Online Reporter