BULAWAYO councillors have pleaded with residents to settle their bills in United States dollars to guarantee reliable services from the local authority amid growing calls for dollarisation.
The local currency that was introduced in 2019 has been on a free-fall resulting in some service providers ditching it in favour of the more stable United States dollars and other currencies.
In Bulawayo, city fathers said the local authority was struggling to provide efficient services when ratepayers settled bills in the free-falling local currency when service providers demanded forex.
In June last year, council introduced a new United States dollar-based billing system with invoices also indexed in foreign currency.
Ratepayers were allowed to settle their bills in their currency of choice including the local currency at the prevailing bank rate.
Bulawayo ward 22 councillor Meli Bruce Moyo, however, said this was unsustainable when the local currency was fast losing value.
“It’s so unfair that people buy using US dollars in shops and other markets, while they are paying their rental bills to the council in local currency,” Moyo said.
“Council receives most of their rental bills in local currency which leads to poor service delivery in Bulawayo as the currency has lost value.”
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Moyo said the local authority also needed forex to meet the demands of service providers as well as that of their employers to stop the staff exodus.
Council has been hard hit by a staff exodus of its experienced personnel who are quitting their jobs in search of forex paying jobs.
Ward 25 councillor Aleck Ndlovu echoed similar sentiments pleading with residents to pay their bills in forex.
“Road construction, water purification, chemicals, maintenance and the fuel ... all of these are paid for in foreign currency, you can’t buy all of these using the local currency,” Ndlovu said
“We can’t pay for these services using RTGS as it loses value on a daily basis.
“The only way to move forward is to have these USD payments, and for us to deliver adequate services we need to have a currency that has value.”
In July last year, the Finance ministry barred Harare City Council from charging bills and other services in US dollars.
