Harare demands cable rentals from Econet

Cash-strapped Harare City Council has extended its fishing net to underground cables laid down by telecommunications firms and is demanding monthly rentals for the property.

Council business committee chairperson Herbert Gomba said that they had already tasked town clerk Tendai Mahachi to engage one of the companies, Econet Zimbabwe, to pay up. Econet should pay lease fees for trenched areas.

They put up their cables and it means that the land will not be used for anything else. They owe them a lot of money that runs into millions. They made a resolution in 2012 to that effect.

"The town clerk must be seen to be enforcing that resolution," Gomba said.

"The whole business of trenching is to make money and they must plough something to the city.

"That they would want their cables to stay there forever shows that land will not be used for anything else. If they don't they will have to consider engaging some legal brains to assist to influence them to pay," Gomba said.

Last year, there was a push by council for individuals contracted by Econet to pay for small shops they are using for mobile money transfer facilities built at several places around the city.