TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO
Several councillors in Bulawayo have castigated the local authority’s finance committee and department for charging high water bills based on estimates that have resulted in residents failing to pay their rates, Business Times can report.
They said residents in various parts of Bulawayo have been complaining of huge water bills ranging from ZW$19 000 to ZWL$30 000.
This emerged at a council meeting held recently.
Rodney Jele, a ward 22 councillor said the finance department, which is responsible, should take action to address the issue.
“Our bills should be between ZWL$4000 to ZWL$4500 but, you will find one house being charged ZWL$20 000.They try by all means to come and get their bills fixed but they won’t get assistance.
“I think this will demotivate the residents from paying so I am appealing to the committee that it should look at the billing system because residents want to pay but they cannot pay for something they know nothing about,” Jele said.
Another councillor, Earnest Rafamoyo of Ward 20 said investigations should be undertaken.
“Maybe the finance committee or the department needs a workshop . There is need to have investigations on this issue of billing.
“This demotivates residents from paying their monthly bills. Finance chairperson, we are asking you to resolve this issue. I am sure you are going to stop it soon,” he said.
Ward 9 councillor, Donaldson Mabutho, echoed the sentiments saying: “We need to rectify the problem so that it also encourages residents to pay their bills,” he said.
