TellZim Reporter
BEITBRIDGE – The Beitbridge Town Council has urged residents to pay their bills to avert severe service delivery challenges as authorities grapple with problems in the provision of sufficient water.
Council says the town’s water problems stem from lack of funds caused by low payment for services by residents.
Beitbridge Town Council Public Relations Officer (PRO) Raniel Ndou said people who are not paying water bills are making life difficult for the council which still needs to pay the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) for water services.
“It is hard for council to pay Zinwa when residents are not paying their bills. The water authority is therefore forced to ration its water and residents will end up suffering from water shortages,” said Ndou.
He also said the local authority is forced to take extreme measures against rates defaulters not out of will but out of the need to raise money to fund service delivery.
“We often end up being forced to take measures like cutting supplies for those who are not paying their bills with the hope that we can make them to pay. We do not want to do this as we want to live in harmony with our people.
“We are therefore calling our residents to pay their bills and help us prevent the worsening of water shortages. There is no way we are going to be able to pay Zinwa when our residents are not paying their dues,” Ndou said.local
