News / Local
Bulawayo residents form money clubs to cover ZESA bills
16 Nov 2011 at 08:05hrs | Views
ASTOUNDING are the measures desperate residents have taken in a bid to curb their already insane electricity debts.
In a bid to reduce debts on electrical bills residents-in Bulawayo's Western suburbs have resorted to forming money link clubs, to help them reduce their debts. A number of areas have been involved in the money link clubs, which have taken the city by storm in Entumbane, Makokoba, Magwegwe, and Emakhandeni.
B-Metro was able to talk to some of the club organisers from Entumbane. Mrs Phiri shed light as to how the money link club works and why they decided to form the club. "We realised that most of us had electricity bills that had sky rocketed and we decided to come together as residents so as to avoid having power cuts from the utility company. We finally decided to form a money link club because most of us could not afford to pay the debts at once hence. We decided to help each other," said Mrs I Phiri a committee member at Entumbane.
She further revealed that they had to make arrangements with the utility company and were given two months to pay their debt.
"As residents we pleaded with the utility at their head quarters in the city center and we were given a two months deadline to make sure we had paid all our debts," she added. The groups are divided into 50 households which make a $5 contribution every week and $35 is paid to accounts belonging 10 households that are systematically chosen.
However, even though they have tried cutting down the debts they have incurred over the years they still have a long way to go to clear debts which have been unpaid for years and are always accumulating interests. Some residents owe over $500.
"We still have overwhelming problems because most of the residents here are unemployed and are mostly vendors. They still cannot afford to pay the monthly bills so at the end of the day what we are trying to do is not helping at all," said Mrs Phiri."This is better than doing nothing as ZESA will at least see that we are making an effort clear our debt. Our hope is that we will manage to clear our debts," she said.
In a bid to reduce debts on electrical bills residents-in Bulawayo's Western suburbs have resorted to forming money link clubs, to help them reduce their debts. A number of areas have been involved in the money link clubs, which have taken the city by storm in Entumbane, Makokoba, Magwegwe, and Emakhandeni.
B-Metro was able to talk to some of the club organisers from Entumbane. Mrs Phiri shed light as to how the money link club works and why they decided to form the club. "We realised that most of us had electricity bills that had sky rocketed and we decided to come together as residents so as to avoid having power cuts from the utility company. We finally decided to form a money link club because most of us could not afford to pay the debts at once hence. We decided to help each other," said Mrs I Phiri a committee member at Entumbane.
"As residents we pleaded with the utility at their head quarters in the city center and we were given a two months deadline to make sure we had paid all our debts," she added. The groups are divided into 50 households which make a $5 contribution every week and $35 is paid to accounts belonging 10 households that are systematically chosen.
However, even though they have tried cutting down the debts they have incurred over the years they still have a long way to go to clear debts which have been unpaid for years and are always accumulating interests. Some residents owe over $500.
"We still have overwhelming problems because most of the residents here are unemployed and are mostly vendors. They still cannot afford to pay the monthly bills so at the end of the day what we are trying to do is not helping at all," said Mrs Phiri."This is better than doing nothing as ZESA will at least see that we are making an effort clear our debt. Our hope is that we will manage to clear our debts," she said.
Source - B-Metro
