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Mutare residents give local authority 30-day ultimatum

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MUTARE residents have given their local authority a 30-day ultimatum to improve on service delivery failing which they would boycott paying rates

MUTARE residents have given their local authority a 30-day ultimatum to improve on service delivery failing which they would boycott paying rates.

OBEY MANAYITI STAFF REPORTER

In a petition presented to Mutare mayor Tatenda Nhamarare by the United Mutare Residents and Ratepayers’ Trust, the residents yesterday said the standards of service delivery in the Eastern border city had dropped to “unacceptable levels”.

“We append our signatures to this petition urging Mutare City Council to urgently take remedial action to our demands within 30 days,” part of the petition, which was also copied to Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo, Manicaland Provincial Affairs minister Mandi Chimene, Mutare Central MP Innocent Gonese (MDC-T) and Mutasa South MP Irene Zindi (Zanu PF), read.

The residents accused the city fathers of neglecting roads, erratic water supply, garbage collection and failing to provide street lighting.

“We the undersigned residents of Mutare who have been faithfully paying their rates, (but) are seriously concerned by the local authority’s obvious failure to address service delivery,” the petition read. “United in our call we petition you as follows: the city council should urgently deal with the terrible state of roads (potholes, gulleys and non-repair of only seven traffic lights in the city), and the health hazards posed by the erratic collection of refuse. Our community is endangered by the lack of adequate street lighting in our areas.”

Council, on the other hand, has accused residents of stifling service delivery through non-payment of rates and accumulating a debt of over $20 million.