Pay your bills or face imprisonment, Bulawayo residents told

HUNDREDS of Bulawayo residents are facing imprisonment for failing to pay their bills to the city council as the local authority intensifies its exercise to recover more than $60 million owed by ratepayers.

The local authority yesterday auctioned property worth $3 300 625 belonging to defaulters in different parts of Bulawayo after issuing summons to 2 200 defaulters.

The Bulawayo City Council senior public relations officer, Mrs Nesisa Mpofu, said they were prepared to resort to other enforcement procedures such as imprisonment of defaulters to recover the money owed by ratepayers.

Mrs Mpofu confirmed the auctioning of defaulters' property yesterday, saying the city council had options to employ enforcement procedures such as attaching more property or imprisonment of defaulters.

"I can confirm that property seized from defaulters will be auctioned today. The number of attachments is 400 but only 13 had their goods sold last year. For this year, nine defaulters had their goods advertised for auctioning and three have since paid," said Mrs Mpofu.

"If the identified property for debt recovery realises less value than the actual debt and costs, there are options for council to continue to pursue the enforcement of the judgment by either attaching more property or resorting to other enforcement procedures such as imprisonment."

Mrs Mpofu said the sale by public auction was the most transparent way of getting a fair value for the goods.

"A sale by public auction is normally the fairest and most transparent way of getting fair value for the goods. This is why it is important for defaulters to settle their bills before the warrant of execution is issued.

"If debtors do nothing about their debts, then the city council has no choice but to auction the property to recover its debt and costs," said Mrs Mpofu.

She said city council doors were still open for negotiating settlement plans.

"Defaulters can enter into a new payment plan for the balance so as to avoid further attachments or having enforcement procedures such as imprisonment served on them.

"We give defaulters opportunities to respond and our doors will remain open for negotiation of settlement plans. Residents are urged not to ignore the city council's letters of demand and to deal sincerely with

council. Those who have not shown goodwill towards paying their debts normally lead themselves to such procedures," said Mrs Mpofu.

The property auctioned yesterday included fridges, stoves, lounge suites, dining room suites, television sets, kitchen tables and beds.

However, residents were divided over the issue, amid revelations that the city council was still attaching more property from defaulters.

Some said the defaulters should have arranged payment plans with the city council, while others said the move was extreme.

"The city council came up with a payment plan last year and gave people enough time to come forward and agree on how much they could afford to pay every month," said Mr Obert Mkhwananzi from Nketa suburb.

"However, concerned residents embraced the exercise and arranged payment plans with the city council. Such people have not had any problems with council although a majority of people had huge water bills to pay."

Mr Mkhwananzi said residents should remember that the city council could only render good service delivery to the people if they honoured their debts.

"There are other services that we need from the city council but if people do not pay their bills, we will always complain about poor service delivery.

"This exercise is actually a wake-up call for those who have not yet arranged payment plans with the city council," said Mr Mkhwananzi.

An affected resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the city council had taken an extreme measure which would cause more problems.

"First of all, the council's billing system has always been pathetic. Despite that fact, I arranged a payment plan and I agreed to pay $80 per month. I defaulted for one month due to circumstances beyond my control and the next thing my property was seized.

"This is unfair because my property would be sold for peanuts and the debt would not be different as they also charge interest and pay the Messenger of Court. The council should be stopped before it starts attaching people's houses," said the defaulter.