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City council accepts directive to freeze rates
Freeman Razemba, The Herald (Zimbabwe)
July 08, 2004

Harare City Council yesterday accepted the Government directive to freeze rates, service and supplementary charges and has with immediate effect reverted to the January 2004 figures, promising to adjust accounts to reflect the change.

This means that property owners and residents who have been keeping their accounts up to date should see credit balances on these accounts.

A directive effecting the changes has been communicated to all district offices, revenue collectors and the treasury department.

There has been confusion in Harare over the rate charges, with council officials at district offices refusing to implement the Government directive because they had not been formally notified.

Harare public relations manager Mr Lesley Gwindi said the confusion had been sorted out and residents should now pay the charges at the rates set for January 2004.

"The City of Harare will, with immediate effect, charge rates, service and supplementary charges that should have been applied for the first quarter of 2004," he said.

The adjustment has been made possible by the stabilisation of the Zimbabwean dollar, the dramatic slowing in monthly inflation and the help that the Government is giving council.

The Government is helping in the procurement of water treatment chemicals and has provided at least $10,7 billion for use in the refurbishment of Crowborough and Firle sewage treatment works and the Morton Jaffray water treatment plant.

The council had implemented increases in March and was supposed to enforce another set this month.

The quarterly increases were part of a budget passed last year when inflation reached its highest levels.

Mr Gwindi said all these and other quarterly increases are now invalid, and residents would be told of any changes before implementation.

"Bills already given to residents would be adjusted when residents make their payments," he said.

The new rates had seen service charges increasing from $10 000 to around $80 000.

Harare, and other local authorities, will now have to redo their budgets for this year to see if further increases are justified and, if so, at what level.

As a result, rents in most suburbs also went up with landlords trying to cushion themselves against rate increases by pushing on the cost onto their lodgers.

But it is yet to be seen whether landlords will now restore rents following the charges’ freeze.

In freezing the rates and charges, the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Cde Ignatius Chombo, said the increases were unjustifiably high.

He said the frozen rate, service and supplementary charges were calculated using black market rates that predicted a foreign currency exchange rate of Z$15 000 for US$1 by December 2004.

"Subsequent intervening measures by the Reserve Bank, that is the Monetary Policy, have, however, witnessed the stabilisation of our currency and the reduction of prices in some instances," said Cde Chombo.

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