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Council, residents municipal debt a cause of concern
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
January 19, 2012

Residents in Harare's Mabvuku, Highfield and Warren-park high density suburbs have vowed to confront Harare City Council over the continuous issuing of final letters of demand coercing residents to pay monies which they claim to be ambiguous. This follows a spate of threats sent to the same residents in 2011 dating from June. Residents have argued that the local authority is not being sincere in its demands hence there has to be unanimous position to this regard. In Mabvuku, Harare City Council went for more than 3 years without providing water and residents continued to receive bills when no service was being provided at all. In Dzivarasekwa, it was revealed during a public meeting convened by CHRA that there was an anomaly with the billing system. Residents continued to receive bills which were supposed to be scrapped as directed by the Town Clerk, Mr. Tendai Mahachi. Some residents now have bills which have shot up to USD$5 000. Last year in June, C.o.H resorted to charging residents a fee of USD$20 as an admin fee a figure which was never agreed amongst residents. This sparked a outcry amongst residents who argued that any charge that should appear on the bill should be something that has to be agreed upon by both the residents and council during budget consultations.

Towards the end of last year, CHRA released a statement which carried stakeholders views on the current municipal debt crisis between residents and council. It emerged that most stakeholders indicated the following:

• City of Harare should write off the debt because already it has become a bad-debt. If residents failed to pay $20 a month for rentals, how will they be able to pay a $1000 debt.
• City of Harare failed to provide basic services for a long period thus it has to take it upon itself to cut this debt because it is a question of social responsibility and accountability.
• City of Harare should not demand $200 upfront as a means of negotiating a payment plan; rather it should at least call for an open system in which residents can always come with what they have in settling the debt.
• City of Harare has no obligation to attach residents' property because it has flouted its own laws. C.o.H has failed to produce an audit since 2008 as stipulated in Sec 304 (1) of the Urban Councils Act hence this should be a cause for concern for any reasonable rate payer.

The Association maintains that residents must not have their property attached because we haven't attached Councils property for failing to provide services, some of which we would have paid for. There has to be a proper engagement between C.o.H and residents. City fathers need to engage a gear up in protecting residents' interest and stop being cry babies always complaining that council technocrats are doing things without their consent. These issues should also be captured in the new constitution under the chapter on property rights. We need a law that is able to protect the poor and the marginalized who normally fall victim to canning politicians and shrewd individuals who engage in primitive accumulation of wealth regardless of the social impact.

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