Source: Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
A public meeting held by the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) on Wednesday, February 22, 2017 resolved that the Harare City Council’s move to engage debt collectors was largely illegal and residents needed to mobilize and resist the debt collectors using all the available channels.
The public meeting, attended by about 300 participants was held under the topic, “City of Harare Debt Management Strategy: Implications on residents and possible actions”.
Panelists at the meeting included constitutional law expert, Professor Lovemore Madhuku, City of Harare acting Corporate Communications Manager, Michael Chideme, Community Water Alliance Programmes Manager, Hardlife Mudzingwa, City of Harare Water Distribution Manager, Tapiwa Kunyadini as well as the Harare City Council Head of Customer Services, Luke Mwaziya.
In his presentation, Professor Madhuku said the move by the Harare City Council to unleash Wellcash Debt Collectors on defaulters was not only illegal but “an act of cruelty”.
He took a dig at Harare City councilors for pushing a resolution that was anti-people adding that residents needed to organize and hold their elected representatives to account.
“Let us make sure that we stop the Harare City Council from engaging debt collectors. The local government is a component of the central government and the question we should be asking ourselves is has the central government ever engaged debt collectors?
“I doubt that what a citizen owes to his government can be classified as debt and as such, debt collectors do not have the status to collect debts on behalf of the government. The Harare City Council must be placed in the category of cruel people,” said Professor Madhuku.
He added that by resolving to unleash debt collectors on defaulters, councilors were reneging on their duty to represent the interests of the people.
“The constitution is very clear that leaders are elected but the problem that we are having in Harare is that we are not making our leaders accountable. How can you have councilors who fail to represent the interests of the people that elected them into office? People cannot live in fear because of debt collectors,” said Madhuku.
Community Water Alliance Programmes Manager, Hardlife Mudzingwa said it was unacceptable for the Harare City Council to engage debt collectors to collect debts that are highly questionable.
“The starting point is that debt collectors are illegal and residents must be educated on this so that the message spreads. Secondly, we need a debt audit to see if residents are really obliged to pay. But our argument is that these debts are questionable,” said Mudzingwa.
Wellcash Debt Collectors are charging an extra 10 percent of what residents owe to council and Mudzingwa said this amounted to extortion especially given the fact that the debts are usually based on estimates.
The debt collectors have also been issuing threats of attachment of property to residents yet in Zimbabwe; there is no Act of Parliament that allows debt collectors to issue threats on behalf of creditors.
Harare City Council Acting Corporate Communications Manager, Michael Chideme admitted during the meeting that residents should ignore the threats from Wellcash Debt Collectors and should come directly to council to make payment plans.
“For us as council, debt collection was a last solution but we are now open for dialogue with residents and they can come to our offices and make payment plans. Previously, we would refer you to debt collectors for payment of debts but we are saying we are now open to negotiations,” said Chideme.
He also warned residents to guard against rowdy council officials who are demanding bribes from residents so that they spare them from water disconnections.
Residents who spoke during the meeting complained that Harare City Council was demanding money from them yet the local authority was failing to deliver on its mandate to provide effective service delivery.
Some of the residents said they had lost their hard earned cash after paying money to Wellcash Debt Collectors only to discover that 10 percent of that amount had not been remitted to council.
Some of the residents highlighted that they had gone for years without tap water yet the Harare City Council continues to charge them fixed water charges.
The move by the council is against a 2014 Full Council resolution that residents who have not received water from the years preceding 2014 must not be charged fixed water charges.
On another note, City of Harare Water Distribution Manager, Engineer, Tapiwa Kunyadini admitted that the local authority was failing to meet the water demands by Harare residents.
“I must admit that we have been overwhelmed by the demand for water hence the continued water shortages. Boreholes have been sunk in some areas but we are ashamed that residents are now resorting to borehole water yet they must be using tap water,” said Kunyadini.
He also admitted that in some cases, council was using estimates to charge residents for water consumption.
Source: Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)