Upenyu Chaota
In a bid to recover an outstanding service charges debt from Rio Zim company which has ballooned to $300 000, Masvingo Rural District Council (MRDC) dragged the gold miners to court recently.
Masvingo RDC chief executive officer Martin Mubviro confirmed that Rio Zim owes them over $300 000 and hastened to say they have since taken legal action against the company.
“There are many institutions which owe the council but most of them have come up with payment plans which they are following religiously. The case with Rio Zim is totally different since they have failed to honour their payment plan.
“Rio Zim has not been forthcoming and they breached the payment plan we initially agreed on. Our coffers are dry and we rely on the rates paid by our people in order to improve the service delivery,” said Mubviro.
Councillors however, indicated during a full council meeting that they were not happy with the way the council lawyers, Mangwana and Partners have dragged feet over the matter. It emerged that the lawyers had been instructed to file papers but went for six weeks without taking any action.
“Members were not happy with the way the lawyers were handling the debt collection for Rio Zim and agreed that debtors were supposed to be taken to court within a period of another 6 weeks. After some deliberations, members agreed that a letter should be written to Mangwana and Partners instructing them to take legal action against Rio Zim as soon as possible,” reads part of the minutes.
TellZim News was informed that a letter to Mangwana and Partners will however be accompanied by a delegation which was tasked to deal with the case.
