In a surge that is crippling development and choking financial capacity of local authorities, residents failure or insensitive attitude towards payment of services rendered by councils is the main ingredient in a cauldron that is proving to yield disastrous financial turnaround for most cities in Zimbabwe. Most council management in a number of cities have suddenly developed a very financial incapacitated syndrome in dependence on sourcing financial muscle from ratepayers and residents thereby abandoning cash making projects that used to boost financial base of most councils in Zimbabwe. Bulawayo, Gweru, Kwekwe Mutare and Harare city councils used to generate most of their revenue from beer sales and brewery lines, but it is all in vain now.
“ Councils used to get most of their revenue base from council run projects. Kwekwe used to own a financially stable brewery which got disfunctional through high level corruption instituted by the council management who milked the project bone dry. On the other hand council management in Redcliff are failing to come up with innovative ways to generate income after the demise of once Africa largest steel making company Ziscosteel. Kwekwe City council disposed a brick making project, council beer outlets are now white elephants and City Long Distance Bus Terminus is a embarrassment. Redcliff and Kwekwe city councils now depend on strangling , suffocation infused residents and ratepayers to bolster its wage bill”, said a Human Rights Activist in Kwekwe.
Redcliff Council owned 120 million dollars by residents who are failing to pay for water and rates services provided by council forcing council to arm -twist errant residents by introducing water disconnection strategy which is followed by Payment Plan which will commit residents to pay their debts.
” This method is proving to yield positive results as residents are forced to honour their pledge to pay for water and services provided by council. Most residents who owe council thousands of dollars in arrears are paying and bringing in the much needed income to sustain council services in providing water and improving on service delivery systems” said Clayton Masiyatsva Redcliff Town Mayor. He also said council is in the process of looking for partners in order to construct a water reticularion and purification plant for Redcliff which will bring much needed relief to residents of the once steel mining town.
On the other hand Kwekwe City council is owed 80 million dollars as of 31 August 2021 and is struggling to provide decent service delivery system. The biggest debtors owing Kwekwe City council are Redcliff ($m 67.7), Ziscosteel ($m19)_Lancashire Steel ($m8.8) and Zimasco($m7.4).
“The biggest companies in Kwekwe owe us a lot. We are encouraging companies and other ratepayers to engage and negotiate with council on payment plans in order to pay off the debts they owe the council and our debt collection unit is engaging a variety of strategies in order to recover debt owed to council “, said Kwekwe Mayor Future Titora.
