By Flata Kavinga
The Municipality of Redcliff is intensifying efforts to recover more than US$22 million owed by ratepayers, with Ziscosteel accounting for the largest share of the debt at US$15.9 million, Finance Director Lindiwe Hwata has said.
In an interview with journalists soon after a full council meeting, Hwata said council’s debtors’ book currently stands at US$22 million, while the local authority owes creditors about US$7.9 million.
“The debtors’ book now stands at US$15.9 million for Zisco and in total we are owed US$22 million. Whilst we owe creditors US$7.9 million,” she said.
Hwata said council has put in place several measures to improve revenue collection and reduce arrears, including engaging a debt collection team on a contract basis last year. The team remains in place and is actively pursuing outstanding payments.
“We already have a debt collection team which is running as council. We engaged our debt collectors last year on a contract basis and they are still with us,” she said.
She added that council is encouraging residents to enter into payment plans to gradually clear their arrears while keeping up with current bills.
“As people come to pay, we encourage them to be on payment plans. Each time they pay, they need to pay some percentage towards the previous arrears and also towards the current bill so that they reduce the arrears,” Hwata said.
The municipality has also begun issuing final demand letters to defaulting ratepayers. Hwata said the move has started yielding results, with some debtors facing property attachments.
“We have started the process of sending final demands and it is proving to be effective. Some are facing attachments. This time around we are serious on revenue collection so that we boost service delivery in line with the directive from the Minister and the President,” she said.
Hwata noted that recent Government measures to reduce licensing fees as part of efforts to ease the cost of doing business had indirectly improved council’s revenue inflows. She said the changes resulted in a 57 percent increase in collections compared to projections before the directive was implemented.
“Most of the residents are happy about the reduction in licensing fees. We have been encouraging them to use the savings to pay something towards their rates and rateable properties,” she said.
