Council recovers $3m from ratepayers

Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has managed to collect almost $3 million through lawyers from residents who had defaulted on paying rates and other charges as the cash-strapped local authority implements strict revenue collection measures.

According to the latest council minutes, the city is looking at recovering more than $5m through the eight lawyers it engaged. So far, almost $3m has been recovered, translating to 55% of the debt collected.

"Debtors normally responded to payments after attachment of property had been effected. Some have made payment arrangements," read part of the minutes.

Some of the debts where the amount owed was over $10 000 were, however, withdrawn from the lawyers or in cases where lawyers failed to locate the debtors.

Last year, $279 337 worth of debts were classified as nulla bona or "dead ends" after the local authority failed to collect them while a government directive to cancel debts cost the local authority about $90 000.

There was a general outcry from Bulawayo residents about council instituting legal action to collect monies owed by them (to it) through lawyers as they felt the move was inconsiderate of the economic hardships that citizens were facing.

Councillors also felt that the process of hiring lawyers was putting a strain on the cash strapped city council.