FORMER Mutare mayor Brian James has given council until March 7 to follow proper procedure in its quest to increase rates, failure of which he will take the local authority to court.
BY OBEY MANAYITI STAFF REPORTER
This follows recent announcements by mayor Tatenda Nhamarare that the council was planning to increase commercial rates to boost its revenue base.
However, James, who was kicked out of office by Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo in 2012 after he clashed with fellow councillors and town management over some administrative issues, said it was unprocedural for the local authority to hike charges without the consent of the residents.
Through his lawyers from Henning Lock Legal Practitioners, James gave town clerk Obert Muzawazi up to March 7 to respond to his grievances.
“On behalf of our clients, we hereby warn you that any attempt to wrongfully enforce the implementation of increased charges/tariffs will be challenged in court and you will be cited in your personal capacity and costs on the higher scale against you personally will be claimed,” James said in a letter to Muzawazi and copied to Nhamarare.
“We trust that you will ensure that no increased charges will be levied until the correct adverts have been placed and the public have had their legitimate right to object to such increases to the proposed charges and budget and the full council has had the opportunity to consider such objections and any increased charges that have already been charged will be reversed.
“We also expect you to now publish the correct advertisements by not later than 7th March 2014 so as to allow for objections to be filed within the time limits provided.”
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In his letter, James said the proposed new service charges were prepared and considered by the council’s finance committee on November 12 2013, adding that the new proposed tariffs were only placed before the council on January 9 this year 2014.
Areas likely to be affected by the proposed new tariffs include the annual licence fees, liquor, rates clearance certificates, miscellaneous charges in the city engineer’s department, crematorium and cemetery charges, and city health department charges, among others.
Contacted for comment, Nhamarare said council would look into the issues raised by James and see if there were any merits in his objections.
