Bulawayo residents have urged the local authority to upgrade its billing system to ensure instant payment capture.
This issue was raised during a recent ward consultation meeting, where residents expressed concerns over discrepancies in the ward’s debtor analysis.
The residents argued that their bills were outdated, leading to inaccurate balances.
According to the Bulawayo City Council (BCC), Ward 20 residents owed a total of US$641,203 as of August, broken down as follows: US$102,922 for May, US$99,923 for June, US$107,163 for July, and US$331,196 for August.
Eliot Musaka, a resident, challenged the accuracy of these figures, citing his personal experience. He explained that despite paying his bills for certain months, the council’s system still showed outstanding balances.
“My question is, while your statistics claim the houses that haven’t paid are at that number, I know from personal experience this is incorrect. For example, you’ll see that a house has been paid for in January, February, and March, yet your current statements still show that I haven’t paid for those months. If I go to Tower Block or any housing office, they tell me they’ll fix it,” he said.
“Your statistics are wrong; your records show someone hasn’t paid. This miscalculation happens because a manual worker is supposed to feed information into the system, but it’s not aligning with our monthly bills,” added Musaka.
Another resident called for real-time connectivity between local housing offices and the Tower Block to address these delays.
“There’s a challenge with the posting process. If I pay at the Nkulumane Housing Office, it should immediately reflect at the Tower Block. We want the information updated instantly,” the resident said.
Responding to these concerns, a council official, Mr Ngwenya, assured residents that the system is designed to register payments instantly.
“When you pay, let’s say here in Nkulumane, that information is sent to the 10th floor (Tower Block), and they capture it in the system. If you check the next day or find someone in the council who can access the system, they should be able to see your payment made yesterday,” he explained.
“But if you pay at the revenue hall, by night your payment should reflect. I can assure you, this system works as intended. If it doesn’t, it’s because something hasn’t been done correctly. I’m speaking from experience,” said Ngwenya.
He added, “If you pay today, by 5 p.m. your payment should reflect. If you paid at the local housing offices, it should reflect by tomorrow. Then, when I interrogate the system and add debtors, it will generate the report automatically.”
Chief Fire Officer Mhlangano Moyo pointed out network and electricity issues as possible causes for delays in payment capture.
“At times, the information hasn’t reached the housing office. We’ve discussed integrating computer systems, but sometimes the network or electricity is down. We will work on upgrading the system,” said Moyo.
