BCC plots to sue 3,000 residents

THE Bulawayo City Council has issued close to 3,000 final demand notices for outstanding bills to residents in four suburbs as it intensifies attempts at lawsuits against defaulters after the High Court barred local authorities from disconnecting water.

Cutting water supplies had been council's greatest weapon in forcing defaulters to pay.

The pilot project, set to spread to the rest of the city, was carried out in the last two weeks of May in Southwold, Morningside, Montrose and Nkulumane suburbs. Residents have called for dialogue with council saying the litigation route was too drastic.

The latest council report shows that 517 final demand notices were issued in the eastern suburbs in two days, while more than 2,000 were issued to Nkulumane residents in seven days.

The report says residents who fail to pay up after receiving the notices risk losing property as council would sue them.

"Staff doing disconnections are now delivering final demands. Those who failed to respond to the final demands will be handed over for collection through legal channels. It might culminate in summons being issued leading to attachment of movable and immovable property of the debtor," read the report.

In the ensuing debate, BCC's finance department explained that the High Court ruling did not bar water disconnections as such, but had made it a requirement that they be carried out with a court order.

Councillors agreed that the local authority could pursue alternatives that included embarking on a door to door visitation of debtors to conscientise them on the need to pay, inserting in the summons a clause where the judge could allow council to disconnect supplies for non-payment of debt and installation of pre-paid water meters as a means to encourage residents to pay.

Bulawayo United Residents Association (Bura) chairperson Winos Dube said council should review its decision, while urging residents to pay their bills.

"As Bura we don't support the issue of taking each other to court. We feel it will strain relations between council and ratepayers. We acknowledge that residents are facing serious economic hardships but the truth is that they have to pay for service delivery," said Dube.

He said residents should make every effort to pay what they could afford or approach council to make payment plans.

Dube said discussion in good faith by both parties was the only way to keep the city afloat and avert a collapse of service delivery.

Bulawayo Progressive Residents (BPRA) coordinator Roderick Fayayo weighed in saying council was losing the plot by adopting "desperate measures that were likely to alienate residents."

"Our view is that wherever council has made serious progress in the city, it has been through cooperation with residents. They should engage residents because taking each other to court will only create counter-productive friction and animosity," said Fayayo.

He said residents are always eager to cooperate because they also did not want service delivery to suffer due to non-payment of bills.

"Serious consultation is also needed because residents have queries about the accuracy of council's billing system. After slashing of bills in July last year, most bills have risen back to the same levels that bedevilled residents before the write-off and many feel that is due to inaccurate billing," added Fayayo.