Redcliff owes Kwekwe city council ZWL$708m

Sydney Mubaiwa
MIDLANDS BUREAU CHIEF

KWEKWE-Kwekwe City Council management has been called to act over the ballooning Redcliff’s $708 million bill.
Kwekwe councillors accused the local authority’s management of handling the issue of Redcliff’s outstanding bill with kids’ gloves during a full council meeting recently.
“As Kwekwe councillors, we would like to know how much Redcliff us. It seems we are handling Redcliff with kids’ gloves. The way we handle our residents should be the same way we treat Redcliff,” said one councillor.
In her response, Kwekwe Municipality Town Clerk Lucia Mkandla said they are taking steps to make Redcliff settle its bills.
” We are currently discussing with the Redcliff municipality to find the best solutions,” she said.
During the meeting, it was revealed that the local authority is being owed about $708 million by Redcliff in water bills.
Redcliff has been receiving erratic water supplies from Kwekwe City Council. The debt has resulted in Redcliff handing over its water management to Kwekwe.
In an interview, Redcliff Mayor Councillor Clayton Masiyatsva said the council recently resolved to sell part of its commercial land to ZESA Holdings at a proposed new Central Business District (CBD) along the Harare – Bulawayo Highway in a bid to settle the water bill.
“Late last year, we had an all-stakeholders meeting with residents and resolved to hand over water management to Kwekwe City Council.
“We have entered into a swap deal which involves Kwekwe, Redcliff and ZESA. Kwekwe City Council was about to be switched off by Zesa since it owes the national power utility company some money.
” We then had a round table meeting with Kwekwe to map the way forward on the issue. We took over Kwekwe City Council debt by offering land to Zesa in Redcliff since they wanted land,” he said.