MUTARE mayor Tatenda Nhamarare has reacted angrily to residents’ threat to boycott paying rates if the local authority fails to improve its service delivery within 30 days.
by OBEY MANAYITI
Last week, the United Mutare Residents and Ratepayers’ Trust, acting on behalf of Mutare residents, petitioned council to shape up and urgently rehabilitate the city’s roads, water and sewer reticulation systems.
However, in an interview with NewsDay yesterday, Nhamarare said if the residents chose to boycott council rates, the local authority would hand them over to its lawyers.
“First and foremost we would like to urge our residents of Mutare to pay their dues as the law requires them to do that and then expect essential services they need,” Nhamarare said.
“Failure to pay rates will only result in arrears accruing on personal accounts and definitely one will have to pay at some point. We know things are tough economically and as the local authority our doors are open so that people come and make payment plans.
“As council we are going to instigate measures on defaulters soon. My plea to residents is that they should pay and stop listening to those associations because they are the ones who will face the legal consequences in the event that we hire legal services to recover the money.”
He added that some of the residents’ association leaders had huge arrears.
