Zomba City corners property rates defaulters

Zomba City Council (ZCC) from June 15 2015 started taking legal action against 480 property owners who owe the council more than K1 billion in city rates covering the past three years, deputy mayor for the city Davie Maunde has said. He said this on Tuesday during a news briefing. He said the council is owed K1 billion in city rates, a situation that derails implementation of some socio-economic developments in the city.

Maunde attributed the debts to shortage of human resource in the management and collection of the city’s revenue in the previous years due to the absence of councillors who complement government’s development efforts. In an effort to collect the defaulted rates, the council has offered a grace period to run from June 1 to August 31 2015 to allow those residents who owe the council less than K500 000 to settle their bills while those whose bills are above that figure will be dragged to court. During the grace period, the council has implemented surcharge waivers which target defaulters living in unplanned areas of Chinamwali, Chikanda and Sadzi to receive 100 percent discount while those in planned areas get 60 percent deduction from their outstanding bills. Said Maunde: “We have started closing down some properties, as such, we request individuals who own property in the city to utilise this grace period as more properties will be closed if bills are not paid during this period.” ZCC was established under the Local Government Act of1998 and was declared a city on Sunday March 9 2008 by former president the late Bingu wa Mutharika to provide sustainable quality services to its residents.