MUTARE City councillors have resolved to introduce a United States dollar billing system after realising that most of its service providers were now demanding forex, but residents have vowed to resist the move saying they were not consulted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe resolved to charge our bills in foreign currency (US dollar). We were under pressure because all our service delivery are now charging in (USD),\u201d said a councillor who attended this week\u2019s full council meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are even struggling to pay water treatment chemicals which are being charged in forex, companies will start to pay rates with immediate effect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mayor Blessing Tandi confirmed the development, but said he was not at the full council meeting which passed the resolution.<\/p>\n
United Mutare Residents Ratepayers Trust (UMRRT) vice-chairperson Jephias Mundondo yesterday vowed to resist the decision which he said was imposed without their consent.<\/p>\n
Mundondo accused the local municipality of imposing the forex billing system without consulting stakeholders.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf they are to try and implement anything like what we are hearing, they should expect a huge backlash through residents and ratepayers because we can\u2019t afford to pay our rates in US dollars,\u201d he said, adding the majority of city residents were still being paid in the local currency.<\/p>\n
\u201cResidents and ratepayers are earning their salaries in Zimbabwean dollars and charging them in US dollars is just mischievous. People will throw back at you what you throw at them.
\n\u201cAs UMRRT, we expect some consultations where residents can say their views, imposing a US dollar payment system and raising rates at this time of COVID-19 when ratepayers and businesses are struggling is not in the interests of Mutare residents,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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MUTARE City councillors have resolved to introduce a United States dollar billing system after realising that most of its service providers were now demanding forex, but residents have vowed to resist the move saying they were not consulted. \u201cWe resolved to charge our bills in foreign currency (US dollar). We were under pressure because all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":12689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[224,187],"class_list":{"0":"post-27030","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-community","9":"tag-council","10":"tag-forex"},"yoast_head":"\n