FOURTEEN Bulawayo residents are set to lose their property tomorrow in a public auction after the MDC-T led local authority attached various household goods for undisclosed reasons. CHIEF REPORTER
According to a notice by the Messenger of Court yesterday, movable goods ranging from stoves, refrigerators, microwaves, home theatres and window frames are set to go under the hammer.
It is suspected that the affected failed to pay bills.
Bulawayo United Residents’ Association chairperson Winos Dube said it was saddening for residents to lose property under the current economic hardships.
Dube said the local authority and residents affected should have come up with better arrangements to resolve the impasse.
“We note with sadness that several residents are due to lose their property. It’s really unfortunate that attaching and eventually auctioning of property is the last resort. The reasons why residents are struggling to clear their bills are the unfavourable current economic climate and it’s worse in Bulawayo with the massive closure of factories,” said Dube.
He said council should be lenient with residents saying attaching household items might lead to houses being auctioned.
“Very few people have clean accounts with Bulawayo City Council and can you imagine council attaching property from everyone in the city. The next stop could be the house and that would be drastic,” he said.
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Dube questioned whether council would manage to recover the debt after auctioning the property.
In recent years, the local authority has come under attack for attaching residents’ property after failing to clear their bills.
In 2012, council indicated that it might be forced to resort to other enforcement measures such as imprisonment of defaulters to recover money from ratepayers.
