Mzuzu City Council owed K3 billion

Property owners and businesses owe Mzuzu City Council over K3 billion in unpaid business permits and city rates, dating back to 2014.

The council made the disclosure yesterday when it set out on a mission to close businesses that have not acquired permits and those that have been defaulting city rates.

The revelation also comes at a time a voluntary compliance window for honouring property rates and business licences expired on June 30 2024.

In an interview yesterday, the council’s director of finance Robert Ziba said they have shifted the exercise to next week due to other engagements involving the Malawi Police Service which is the council’s enforcement partner in executing the closures.

He said their target during the first month of the exercise is to collect about K500 million to cater for municipal services within the city.

So far, according to Ziba, they have  collected K17 million between Wednesday and Thursday through voluntary payments.

He said: “The exercise started on Wednesday. We have not closed any shop or business thus far. Those that we have reached are not too many as of this week. The exercise will focus on Old Town, Central Market and Jombo Ward. The penalty for closure is K50 000.

“It is not easy to collect property rates because residents and business operators are also expecting the council to implement municipal services. These funds will help us mainly carry out road levelling bridge construction and refuse collection.”

Officials at Lilongwe and Blantyre city councils were not immediately available with how much they have collected the past two months.

But in April this year, the three city councils were aiming to collect over K3 billion in city rates in the 2024/25 fiscal year which started on April 1.

Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu notified the business community to register their businesses, renew licence and pay city rates or risk closure.

In an interview, Lilongwe City Council public relations officer Tamara Chafunya said they hoped to collect K1.4 billion through the exercise.

 “We wish to remind the businesses operating their businesses within our boundaries that they should register and renew their businesses for the 2024/25 financial year at our offices effective 1 April,” she said.

Blantyre City Council acting director of commerce Benson Chirwa said the council will start closing business premises that will not settle their rates from August 1 2024.