Zimpapers Logo

Chipo Sabeta Chinhoyi Bureau
Chinhoyi Town Council is owed more than $36 million by ratepayers, as residents and other debtors fail to settle their bills despite earlier warnings, director of financial services Mr Zephaniah Chirarwa has revealed.

Mr Chirarwa said corporates had a back log dating back to 2009, whilst residents had not been consistent since July 2013 when their rates were written-off. The mandatory debt write-off was carried out by all local authorities in June 2013 following a directive by the then Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo.

“I can confirm that the council is owed US$36,7 million in unpaid rates,” said Mr Chirarwa. Of the total amount, about $15,2 million is owed by estates who bought stands from the council. The remainder is owed by corporates and residents. The corporates bill is backdated to 2009 and many have been struggling to pay, whilst the remainder is for residents since July 2013.”

Mr Chirarwa said the debts had burdened the council, compromising service delivery and denting the Mashonaland West provincial capital’s bid to be awarded a City Status by December 2018.

“Looking at it $36,7 million is a lot of money and unfortunately, it burdens the council when it comes to service delivery,” he said. “We are eyeing city status by December 2018 and such debts obviously derail us. Remember, we always have strategic plans at the beginning of every year, but such various capital projects like water augmentation require proper funding. At times we end up borrowing or using certain funds to complement other departments, thereby creating an anomaly.”

In a bid to collect rates, Mr Chirarwa said council launched a debt relief programme whereby residents and ratepayers paid part of their debt and have the remainder written-off.

“We have been advertising in the media calling all stakeholders to come and talk to us,” he said. The local authority reached the decision after realising that most council debtors were struggling to settle their dues. We are delighted to reveal that we have witnessed an increase in revenue collection by 48 percent so far as we hope for an improved payments.

“Ratepayers are encouraged to comply with the payment plans they entered for the past month. We will be following up on their commitments.” Mr Chirarwa said council would engage debt collectors of the residents failed to respond positively.

“This is the second month we are running adverts to encourage our stakeholders and resident to come and make payments plans,” he said. We will be forced to hand over debtors to our lawyers and they will handle the debt on our behalf.”