The local authority is battling to recover $54 billion it
is owed by residents, businesses and Government entities.
In a public notice, Gweru City Council also threatened to
take legal action against defaulters.
“Clear your bills before 31 December 2023 and failure to
comply may result in your bill being converted into USD. Failure to clear your
bills will result in litigation,” read the statement.
Gweru City Council spokesperson Ms Vimbai Chingwaramusee
said as of October 31, ratepayers owed the local authority $54 billion.
She attributed the ballooning debt to ratepayers who are
not paying their monthly bills.
“As of 31 October, Gweru City Council was owed $54 billion
and this is adversely affecting service delivery. We need to use that money to
meet service delivery expenses such as buying fuel and other such expenses,”
said Ms Chingwaramusee.
She said due to non-payment of bills by ratepayers, the
city council is now struggling to pay its service providers and now owes
Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra), Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission
Distribution Company (ZETDC) and the Local Authorities Pension Fund (LAPF) a
lot of money.
“We owe the service providers about $10 billion. If we
could get the money from residents and other ratepayers, we could easily clear
this debt,” said Ms Chingwaramusee.
Gweru Mayor Councillor Martin Chivhoko said it was
unfortunate that the council was in this situation because ratepayers were not
paying their bills.
He said the council needs money to meet its obligation of
providing services to residents and the business community.
“If residents and other ratepayers pay their bills, council
will also be able to pay its service providers as well as meet other financial
obligations,” said Clr Chivhoko.
The director of the Gweru Residents and Ratepayer
Association (GRRP) Mr Cornelius Selipiwe urged defaulting residents to clear
their arrears.
“Yes, we understand that residents are saying the economy
is not performing well but they should strive to pay their bills every month to
enable council to operate,” he said.
Early this year, council came up with a raft of debt
recovery measures including taking legal action against defaulters.
The local authority also suspended the levying of interest
on arrears to encourage residents to clear their debts. Herald
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