Mixed feelings over council rates discount Clr Gomba

Innocent Ruwende Senior Reporter
Harare City Council will assess its 50 percent discount promotion to ratepayers on amounts that they pay against their debt, amid fears that it may be promoting delinquency and not benefiting paid up ratepayers.

In an interview after meeting with the business community who had misgivings about the promotion, Mayor Councillor Herbert Gomba said council will take a stock of the initiative when the window closes on November 30.

“At the end of the current window we are going to assess the promotion to see whether it was beneficial to council or not,” he said. “We understand the concerns which were shared by some residents we were in discussions with.

“We also have to take the concerns of those who were not here in the fora that we were discussing this and other matters and consider both before coming up with a decision.”

During the Council-Business Community Dialogue some business people questioned the discount initiative saying it was not rewarding paid-up ratepayers.

Ms Gacque Anderson of Miracle Missions said the discount initiative was a bad idea.

“I think the discount initiative is a terrible idea because all those people who are being honest and paying on time and making sure that they are doing what is required do not benefit,” she said.

“Everybody is expecting a discount, so now they do not pay and this puts pressure on the whole city. There are several high-ranking people in business or Government who are refusing to pay and that is unacceptable. The people in Government and the people in business are required to do what is right and build this nation.”

Former Harare mayor Bernard Manyenyeni has also criticised the promotion, saying council services are funded by ratepayers  not just council willpower.

“Non-payers are still demanding municipal services. NO! Some loyal payers are getting more and more angry, quite justifiably, about being robbed yet again. This whole business of rate write-offs, however they are tailored, is now a moral hazard in Zimbabwe,” he said on his Facebook wall.

The promotion has, however, benefited both residents and council in a development that has seen revenue inflows improving resulting in council managing to clear part of its salary backlog and channel more resources to service delivery.

Council collected $17 million in September, a feat which has not been achieved during the past four years.

In October council collected $20 million.

Prior to that it had been collecting between $10 million and $12 million against potential monthly collections of $22 million.

Residents have since reduced their debts from $370 million to $336 million.

Most residents are struggling to pay their municipal bills.

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