Council attaches residents’ property
ELIAS MAGINYA IN GWERU
The Gweru City Council has started attaching the property of residents who have defaulted in paying their rates, Business Times can report.
The local authority is owed ZWL$1.82bn by the ratepayers with residents owing ZW$600m, government ministries and other institutions owing ZW$1.2bn and ZW$23m from closed industries.
The execution against property began last week in Senga residential suburb. The property attached is set to be auctioned.
The development was confirmed by Gweru City Council spokesperson, Vimbai Chingwaramusee, who said the execution against property targeted those who had not paid their bills in four months.
“We first send call slips. When no action is done, we send the first demand letter then the second demand letter. Failure to respond, (we turn) to litigation and summons are sent giving people time to respond,” Chingwaramusee said.
She added: “Ignoring the summon means the judgement will be default. If that is ignored, we then push for the writ of attachment of property. However, the writ notice also gives you ample time to defend your case by paying to the local authority.”
But, residents feel that the council`s decision to attach their property over non-payment of bills was unjustified and they demanded that the process be halted.
Gweru Residents and Ratepayers Association executive director, Conelia Selipiwe, told Business Times that the local authority should not have resorted to such a drastic measure.
“To start with, the council did not take action since 2013, why now? Secondly, we are going for a month or two without refuse collection. We are paying for a service that is not rendered. The economic situation is not encouraging, the salaries are very low. Most of these bills were accumulated during the Covid 19 induced lockdown, none earned during that period,” Selipiwe said
He added that the local authority should think outside the box and create revenue streams rather than coming heavy on residents.
“Why did they give away city park, why did they let city abattoir go? They should resuscitate council projects such as Go Beer.”
Over the years the council has been struggling to deliver services to residents. These include water supply, sewer, road rehabilitation, refuse collection, street lights among others.
