Staff Reporter
The Municipality of Redcliff has re-engaged internal debt collectors in a bid to recover more than US$20.8 million owed by residents, institutions, and ratepayers, with Ziscosteel emerging as the biggest debtor.
Speaking to journalists after a full council meeting Redcliff Finance Director Lindiwe Hwata confirmed that the local authority had resolved to renew contracts for debt collectors whose mandates had expired.
“For the council debtors, our debtors’ book now is at US$20.8 million. And then for the creditors, we owe US$5.7 million. So to reduce the debtors’ book, we have re-engaged the debt collectors,” Hwata said.
She added that the council is confident the move will help improve collections, noting that previous engagements with debt collectors had yielded positive results.
“Actually, their contracts had expired. So we had to go to council to have them renewed. Now that we’ve got a resolution after this full council meeting, we’re going to re-engage them so that we continue having some positive results in terms of the collections,” she explained.
Hwata revealed that Ziscosteel tops the list of debtors, with the defunct steel giant owing the council about US$13.6 million.
Redcliff Municipality has been battling to balance its finances, with ballooning debts affecting service delivery. The council hopes the latest resolution will boost revenue inflows and ease pressure from its own creditors.
