By Archford Chirimudombo
MARONDERA– The Municipality of Marondera will only make a decision on whether, or not, to award their workers a 13th pay cheque after assessing its financial position at the end of the year.
Under normal circumstances, workers in both the public and private sectors receive their bonuses as token for the work they would have done during the course of the year.
In an interview with Chaminuka, the local authority’s public relations officer Kudakwashe Tapfumaneyi said a decision is yet to be made on the issue of the council workers’ bonus.
He said: “Every employer aims to reward employees with a 13th cheque, but council has not yet determined if it can provide annual bonuses. This decision will largely depend on the council’s financial situation by the end of the year.”
However Marondera Mayor Chengetai Murowa was singing from a different hymn.
“All our workers will get their bonuses and as councilors, we are pushing to ensure that it comes to pass,” Murowa said without elaborating further in a separate interview.
However, Tapfumaneyi said the council’s cash flow has not been pleasing and revealed that currently, they are owed ZiG125 352 387 by residents, the business community, Government entities and other ratepayers.
That could be one of the reasons attributable to the council’s likely failure to pay its workforce bonuses. In a bid to recover some of the money which it is owed by debtors, Tapfumaneyi said the Municipality of Marondera is implementing several measures.
“Council is sending out bill payment reminders via SMS and bill payment fliers to encourage ratepayers to settle their bills. Through the debt collection office, overdue reminders have been issued to debtors, reminding them to service their accounts.
“Debtors are encouraged to enter into payment plan arrangements with the debt collection office to pay off their debts. We also set up call centres through which ratepayers in arrears may call and make enquiries on how they may go about settling their overdue accounts.”
Tapfumaneyi also said council has been closing some business entities in arrears to encourage them to pay. Where debtors do not respond to the cited measures, council was issuing letters of demand before pursuing litigation through summons to recover the money it is owed.
“But that is a last resort measure. Recently, we issued a notice to ratepayers in arrears, reminding them to settle their bills or to enter into payment plan arrangements by 6 December 2024 or face litigation,” Tapfumaneyi added.
That move will be in line with Sections 279 and 281 of the Urban Councils Act, which empower local authorities to institute legal proceedings to recover debts.
Section 279 of the Act reads: “The person who is the owner of any property on the date on which any rate fixed and levied by the council becomes due and payable shall be primarily liable for that rate. If, on the date on which a rate becomes due and payable, the owner primarily liable has failed to pay that rate, a demand in writing may be served on him requiring him to pay the amount stated therein within 14 days of the service of the demand.
“If the owner primarily liable for a rate fails to comply with the demand . . . then any person who at any time during the period in respect of which such rate was fixed and levied — is the occupier of the property concerned shall, if a demand in writing is served on him by the council, be liable for such rate together with any other unpaid rates in respect of such property, not exceeding the amount of any rent in respect of such property due by him but not yet paid at the time of the demand and shall thereafter continue to pay such rents to the council until the amount of the unpaid rates has been paid off.”
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