ChiTown residents reject $940 rate card

By The NewsDay | Mar. 12, 2021 | 2 Min read

BY TAFADZWA KACHIKO CHITUNGWIZA residents have rejected a $940 rate card approved in the 2021 council budget, saying they were never consulted and could not afford it. Speaking on the sidelines of a stakeholders’ meeting on Monday, Chitungwiza Residents Trust director Alice Kuvheya confirmed that the residents had rejected the $940 rate card that had […]

BY TAFADZWA KACHIKO

CHITUNGWIZA residents have rejected a $940 rate card approved in the 2021 council budget, saying they were never consulted and could not afford it.

Speaking on the sidelines of a stakeholders’ meeting on Monday, Chitungwiza Residents Trust director Alice Kuvheya confirmed that the residents had rejected the $940 rate card that had been announced by mayor Lovemore Maiko during the meeting.

Said Kuvheya: “Honestly, we didn’t agree on the $940 rate card. We saw it two weeks ago. This is not what we discussed during budget consultative meetings. That’s why you see residents are not co-operating. There is no transparency here. We have not seen minutes for previous meetings.

“We are buying water, there is garbage and sewer in houses. We heard that there are 30 000 unregistered houses, why are they not registered? It means we have a lot of people who are staying for free. If they are regularised, at least there will be more revenue.”

Chitungwiza Residents and Ratepayers Association chairperson Arthur Taderera said the majority of ratepayers in the dormitory town were unemployed and could not afford the new rates.

“There are too many other factors that will make them fail to pay. Definitely, residents are saying they do not know where they will get that kind of money,” he said.

“People in Nyatsime pay rates, but there is no development there to show what has been done with the money. Around 30 000 house owners there are not even in the database and might not be paying rates.”

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Chitungwiza and Manyame Rural Residents Association secretary Brighton Mazhindu said: “Obviously, they are rating it in United States dollars, but people’s salaries are not in US dollars. They were supposed to consult the ratepayers.”

Residents Association of Chitungwiza Trust organising secretary Albert Gwatidzo Mangwende accused the council of making resolutions to increase rates without a full quorum.

Zimbabwe Old People’s Association chief security officer Godfrey Chikati said the $940 fixed charge was too high as most of them only received $300 monthly stipends from the Department of Social Welfare.