The Bulawayo City Council has resumed its seizure and auctioning of property belonging to ratepayers with outstanding bills, hardly two months after the move was suspended on humanitarian grounds.
Yesterday, council published the names of four ratepayers whose properties were seized and are set to go under the hammer tomorrow to settle rates arrears.
According to the notice, published in a local daily, the auction would be held at CIPF Complex along Khami Road at around 9am. Council recently declared war on residents with unpaid bills of $50 and above in a bid to recover about $62 million it is owed by residents.
However, residents have condemned the clampdown and urged the council to come up with a residents-friendly payment plan.
The latest property seizure came hardly two months after mayor Thaba Moyo announced that council had stopped attaching debtors’ properties.
Addressing a residents’ meeting at MacDonald Hall in Mzilikazi on April 17, Moyo said council had resolved to suspend the property attachments.
Council has been battling to recover about $62 million it is owed by residents and companies as well as government departments in unpaid bills.
