The ManicaPost
Abel Zhakata
Senior Reporter
MRS Rebecca Mlambo (not her real name) is a 79-year-old widow who lives in the T-Section of Dangamvura in Mutare.
Her husband died two decades ago in a car accident that also claimed the life of her only son, David.
A well-known educationist, the granny is now surviving from her monthly pension payouts which have since been eroded by inflation.
On average, she takes home about $2 500 which she uses to buy groceries and pay her bills.
She owns the house she lives in and has tenants using the other two rooms.
From the rentals, Mrs Mlambo gets US$40 which has over the years been boosting her earnings and helping her maintain the house.
For a couple of years, the elderly woman has been living a peaceful life, but in her own words, things turned ugly in March last year due to the effects of the Covid-19 induced lockdowns which brought some businesses to a standstill.
Her tenants, who are informal traders, have been badly affected by the lockdowns and they are no longer paying rentals on time.
In addition, the old lady who ordinarily parted with $500 to pay council rates and her water bills got a shocker last month when she found a bill six times higher in her mail box.
“How do I pay that?” she soliloquised.
Her pension payout is not enough to cover the council bill, yet she wants to use the same to replenish her pantry stocks and put food on the table for the next 30 days.
At midnight, Mrs Mlambo joins her neighbours to fetch water from a nearby point as nothing comes out of their taps for two days or more due to a tight water rationing schedule that has been put in place by the local authority due to distribution challenges.
At day break, the old lady puts her bin in a wheelbarrow and pushes it for about half a kilometre to empty it at a local dumpsite that has been conveniently created by the locals since the municipality is struggling to collect garbage consistently due to a host of operational problems.
As she returns from the dumpsite, she hears other women discussing about the rates increase. She joins the debate and gives her side of the story.
Mrs Mlambo’s story gives an insight on the events leading to the current impasse between ratepayers and Mutare City Council following the 500 percent rates increases that the local authority effected in the 2021 budget.
On one hand, the ratepayers are accusing the local authority of playing dirty in that in came up with the rates without consultation, but the municipality has since rubbished that.Over the past two weeks, consultations have been going on and council has since gave in to some of the residents’ demands and this has resulted in some of the charges being reviewed.
But the ratepayers, especially those in the commercial sector who have been badly hit by the Covid-19 lockdowns, still say the changes are nominal.
Many feel that the local authority is demanding too much and delivering very little in terms of service delivery.
On the other hand, council maintains that for it to provide world class services, ratepayers need to pay economic rates which take into consideration the cost of supplying the same.
Former Mutare City Council councillor, Ms Cecilia Gambe, said the local authority is charging for non-existent services.
“Our roads are in bad shape and shop licences have been pegged at very high rates. Let us stand up against these unacceptable charges. Why should we pay for something we are not seeing? I am the one who proposed the road levy in our last budget meetings and I thought the money collected would be used to rehabilitate our roads, but nothing has been done on the ground.
“We should not continue paying for a service we are not getting. For example, if council is not collecting garbage in a certain area, that location has no reason to continue paying for refuse collection. If council is offering lip service they should not expect ratepayers to pay anything,” she said.
A filling station owner in Dangamvura said the new rates are not taking into account the devastating effects of the Covid-19 lockdowns on both businesses and households.
“Generally, the economic atmosphere is not looking good due to the lockdown. Under normal circumstances, council should be offering rate cuts and exemptions to cushion businesses and households from the negative impact of the global pandemic.
“Last year before the increases, a fuel station was paying around US$500 to council in licence fees, but that figure has increased to about US$4 800. The Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority, which issues the licences, is charging far less than that.
“Ratepayers are justified in making this noise because our city fathers are not being sincere. These increases are out of this world. Instead of promoting business, council is killing us,” he said.
As the fight escalates, ratepayers have since petitioned the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works via a social media platform that has seen thousands appending their signatures, demanding a reversal of the rates increases.
The petition, which is being led by the #Ratesmustfallmovement, seeks to, among other things, force council to scrap the increments.
Reads the petition in part: “ Mutare residents and ratepayers are not happy with the rates increase that were effected by council. The increases are more than 500 percent and this is adding salt on bleeding wounds of people who are already suffering due to economic challenges in the country. The whole of last year people were not working, as they were affected by this pandemic which has killed millions of people around the world.
“The main reasons behind our demand for the rates to fall are that consultations were not done properly, the increases are too much and unbearable and the timing and implementation is wrong. It is unfortunate that council increases rates while people are locked in their houses due to Covid-19.”
Human rights lawyer, Mr Passmore Nyakureba, said ratepayers must get services if they are paying council to offer the same.
“In the event that you are not getting certain services and you have proof that council is billing you for those services and you are also up to date with your payments, you can take the local authority to court. Why should you continue paying for a non-existent service? That is daylight robbery,” he said.
Council spokesperson, Mr Spren Mutiwi, said the local authority has since revised the water tariffs as well as offering businesses a 30 percent promotional discount on their bills.
However, the business community has rejected the discount insisting that council must first scrap the increases which were effected without consultation.
United Mutare Residents and Ratepayers’ Trust programmes manager, Mr Eddie Dube, said the reviews are insignificant.
“We want all increases scrapped so that we revert to the old rates. The local authority must first present to us audited accounts of all the levies that we have been paying before and show us how the collected funds were used.
“There is the road, education and street light levies. Ratepayers have been paying these levies over the years but there is nothing on the ground to show how the collected funds were used.
“The increases are unjustified and we have every reason to believe that some people at the Civic Centre want to personally benefit from the frightening rates they are demanding.
“The economic environment has been generally stable. Why then should council hike rates by more than 500 percent? All this borders on greed and dishonesty,” he said.
