THE Redcliff local authority is in the red following the debt cancellation of all domestic water and utility debts owed to councils by residents.
BLESSED MHLANGA STAFF REPORTER
In the run-up to the July 31 polls, Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo ordered all local authorities to cancel millions of dollars in debts owed to it by residents.
Deputy mayor Clayton Masiyatsva told journalists during a Misa-Zimbabwe post-election Press club meeting on Friday that following the cancellation, the city lost over $6 million in expected revenue.
“We are now in the red because after debt cancellation, our obligations still stand at $7 million yet our expected revenue took a knock by $6 million. We are now expecting just $5 million,” he said.
Some of the debts owed by the local authority include workers’ wages and salaries for 10 months estimated at more than $1 million, Redcliff also owes power utility company Zesa and Kwekwe City Council for water supplies.
Masiyatsva said only the resuscitation of Ziscosteel would pull Redcliff from the debt abyss dug by high levels of poverty in the steel making community.
