Hundreds of Chitungwiza residents are rejoicing after their household bills that were tormenting them for some time due to being wrongly charged for services that are not being rendered to them by the municipality were corrected and reduced. Most of the affected residents had been given letters of final demand by the local authority through debt collectors.
The Chitungwiza and Manyame Rural Residents Association (CAMERA) identified some scores of its members and areas that were affected by this anomaly. Several areas that were affected include Zengeza 4 extension commonly known as Mhurushomana neighbourhood adjacent to the municipality head offices, part of Unit O extension, Unit J behind the Chitungwiza Central Hospital and Unit G extension near Velvet Petroleum service station among other areas. Generally, the affected households are not connected to potable water and sewer pipes, there are no feeder roads to their houses making it impossible for the local authority to collect refuse bins and street lighting is also not provided. CAMERA notified the local authority’s finance and engineering departments, held several community meetings in the affected areas and also met the Acting Mayor councillor Goodwill Mushangwe leading to the issue being taken aboard as an urgent concern.
The municipality is currently in the process of attending to all the disputed bills where residents are being charged services that are not rendered. CAMERA is supporting the local authority in identifying such affected areas and assisting its members and residents in general in going through the process of having their monthly bills corrected and reduced accordingly.
CAMERA applauds the local authority for correcting and reducing the disputed bills of residents who do not receive some of the services charged on their monthly bills. We also urge the municipality to consider making sure that the residents access all the services in an equitable manner. We implore residents that are affected in the similar fashion to approach the municipality and have their bills corrected and reduced so as to reflect what they have utilized in terms of services.
Source: Chitungwiza and Manyame Rural Residents Association (CAMERA)
