WARD 18 Councillor Ian Makone has publicly admitted that the City of Harare (CoH) is sleeping on the job as their service delivery is not matching what residents are paying.
Peter Tanyanyiwa Suburban Reporter
He, however, urged residents who have not been paying their rates to settle their bills as the local authority needs the money to carry out its mandate.
Cllr Makone lamented the municipality’s shortcomings when it comes to service delivery but was quick to warn residents that if those who have not been paying their bills continue to do so the services offered by council will continue to deteriorate.
Responding to residents’ inquiries on the Councillor’s Forum, Cllr Makone said he was also disappointed by the shoddy performance of the city.
Residents were expressing their concern about the state of the service delivery which keeps deteriorating by the day.
“Like one of the few residents that dutifully settle their CoH bills, I am very angry because there is no matching service for what I pay. But there is the other side of the coin too, that the majority of residents have not been settling, even where the accounts are reconciled. Ladies and gentlemen we have a chicken and egg situation, where because of a variety of reasons, some legitimate, CoH has no cash flow to provide the services we all deserve.
“At the recent budget consultation meeting I drew attention to this sad development and acknowledged that while the solution lies in challenging what is wrong, as advocated, we should at least settle that which we believe to be correct. Cash flow is everything even in our individual businesses and occupations. I have called up the debtors’ schedule for the larger outstanding (debts) of our ward, both corporate and domestic, and the picture is not good. I join the appeal for reasonable, corrected and timely bills. But I also ask residents to lead the charge in resolving the cash squeeze which is at the heart of poor service,” said Cllr Makone.