Mutare, Ratepayers Clash Over Water Disconnections newzimbabwe.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newzimbabwe.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Staff Reporter
MUTARE City Council says it has stopped allocating land to private land developers and is currently working on solving problems which were created by land barons in some settlements.
City housing director Emma Mandiziba said this during a Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ) Interface meeting which was held in the eastern border city recently.
The meeting was attended by various stakeholders including residents’ associations, civil society and real estate operators.
“Land developers had left citizens in inhabitable settlements without proper water, sanitation, roads and drainage services.
“We have realised with regret how private land developers have left most of the settlements without proper services like water, sanitation, roads and drainage systems thereby leaving citizens in flood prone areas,” said Mandiziba.
By Staff Reporter
A GROUP representing the affairs of Mutare residents and ratepayers is up in arms with authorities in the eastern border city for unilaterally hiking rates by more than 300 percent when residents were struggling to survive a tough economic period which has further been worsened by the effects of the Covid-19 induced lockdown.
The rate increase, according to the city, was an attempt to cushion the local authority against inflation and high cost of service delivery.
The new tariff regime saw most residents in high-density areas pay over ZWL$5 000 for service charges per month, an amount they say was obscene considering the state of the economy.