Harare City Council has extended its 50% discount promotion to ratepayers to November 30 following pleas by residents’ groups.
BY XOLISANI NCUBE
Council spokesperson Michael Chideme confirmed the move, saying residents must take advantage of the discount window period to settle their arrears.
“Yes, we have extended the 50% discount promotion to ratepayers, we hope that they will take this period to settle their debts,” Chideme said.
The promotion was initially supposed to run for 90 days until October 23. It is benefitting both residents and council, resulting in improved revenue inflows to enable the local authority to reduce the salary backlog and channelling of more resources towards service delivery.
From the promotion, council collected $17 million in September, a figure that has not been achieved during the past four years.
Before the promotion, council has been receiving between $10 million and $12 million against potential monthly collections of $22 million.
Residents have since reduced their debts from $370 million to $336 million.
