Harare City Council to name and shame prominent residents who are not paying rent and rates

Harare City Council has resolved to name and shame prominent residents who owe it money after it emerged that they are owed over $600 million in unpaid rates by both domestic and commercial consumers since January this year.

Part of the minutes seen by NewsDay reads:

Council had to consider the naming and shaming of some prominent Harare residents, who owe council in rates and rentals. All ratepayers in low, high-density, industrial and commercial properties, whose accounts were overdue were served with final demands. However, responses from industrial and commercial properties were rather poor in comparison with domestic properties due to closure of most companies.

Recently, council embarked on an aggressive revenue collection exercise but only collected $5,5 million, amid speculative reports that residents were reluctant to clear their debts in anticipation of a rates write-off by government ahead of next year’s general elections.

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