Zibagwe RDC engages companies to recover over $300m in debts
ZIBAGWE Rural District Council has embarked on an engagement drive with companies and key stakeholders in a bid to recover more than $300 million owed by different debtors.
The council has been facing revenue inflow challenges recently, which is threatening basic service delivery.
For instance, fertiliser manufacturing company, Sable Chemicals owes Zibagwe RDC $10 million while Silobela based mine, Jena Mine owes the rural authority a total of US$103 850.
Speaking during a recent full council meeting, chief executive officer, Mr Farayi Desmond Machaya, said they were in the process of engaging the companies.
“We are owed more than $300 million by our ratepayers. We have embarked on a drive to engage the companies and mines to make them pay. We are in the process of engaging Sable Chemicals, Jena Mine and other companies who have not been remitting their dues so that we make payment arrangements,” he said.
“We continue to engage our debtors to come up with debt settlement plans. The development has threatened to derail service delivery and has also seen the council failing to honor its own obligations hence a blonde creditors account of $68 million.
“Our creditors also continue to increase on a monthly basis owing to low revenue collection, which is making it difficult for us to service our obligations as they fall due.
Our creditors as at 30 May 2020 are at $68.4 million,” said Mr Machaya.
As a way of bolstering its revenue collection, the council has resolved to visit mines dotted across its jurisdiction and encourage them to pay. The local authority has also started collecting fees in USD so as to curb inflation.
“We have also informed respective ward councilors to encourage village heads to collect development levy in hard currency to hedge against inflation so that the collections will be able to make meaningful contributions to each ward,” said Mr Machaya.
inflation
Regarding financial performance, Mr Machaya said the rural authority has collected a cumulative revenue of $44 million, which translates to 10 percent of annual budget of $454.2 million.
Mr Machaya, however, applauded the Government for the devolution funds the council continued to receive as it was going a long way to cover a huge gap.
“Despite the aforementioned challenges, we remain optimistic of a better future given the anticipated funding through devolution, the massive infrastructure projects being rolled out by the central government,” he said.
“The economic outlook seems very promising, anchored by a robust implementation of policies outlined in the National Development Strategy 1 and Vision 2030.”-The Chronicle
