Residents outraged by USD bills
Providence Moyo
Bulawayo residents are up in arms with the Bulawayo City Council which they accuse of unilaterally pegging water bills in United States Dollars.
Bulawayo United Residents Association (BURA) chairman Winos Dube revealed that some residents are calling on residents associations to lead a peaceful demonstration against the local authority’s decision.
“Residents are concerned and not happy with this move as it seeks to dolarize the economy and it is based on an assumption that everyone in the country has access to USD which is not true. Government still emphasises that the Zimbabwean dollar is stabilising against USD. Inspite of that, the local authority has embraced USD system. As an organisation we are yet to deliberate on how to go about the resident’s plea,” said Dube.
He warned that the dolarisation of the water payment system is bound to result in more residents defaulting especially government pensioners and civil servants.
Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BUPRA) secretary for administration Thembelani Dube said there should have been consultative meetings between the local authority and residents to make sure both parties are on the same wavelength.
“The local authority should have been inclusive in this big decision. As citizens we should have been engaged in coming up with a mutually beneficial solution. This system has been there for the past 24 months as the council has been accepting USD equivalent to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s rate but now they have just pegged their prices in USD whilst taking local currency which is still equivalent so the problem with this system is lack of proper communication between the local authority and residents where the latter is stumbling upon USD bills when they were expecting the ones pegged in local currency. Residents should have been prepared for this ahead of distribution.”
Meanwhile, BCC has commenced sending of USD bills to residents. Njube and Magwegwe residents received their bills yesterday.
