Schools run by the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) are owed about ZWL$3 million in unpaid fees with the local authority making efforts to engage parents to settle their debt.
According to the latest council report, the schools are owed ZWL$2 852 346 in unpaid tuition fees and levies.
“The total tuition and Council levies paid amounted to $855 845 inclusive of Beam which was only received by Sigombe during this current term.
“Sigombe had not received its payment in the first term when other schools received their payments. Total accumulated outstanding tuition and Council levies for the current and previous terms stood at $2 852 346,” reads the report.
“These monies continued to lose their purchasing power and when these were subsequently paid at whatever time their value will have been eroded. Parents were continually being engaged to settle their obligations. The Central Government continued to emphasize that learners should not be sent away but rather parents should be taken to court to recover the outstanding fees.”
Government policy bars schools from sending pupils away from school for not paying fees.
Meanwhile, the government`s indebtedness to the local authority currently stands at ZWL $2,968,581 while parastatals and self-financing ministries owe council ZWL $4,312,473.
Commercial and domestic debtors owe council a combined ZWL$181 429 683.
The local authority is on record saying poor revenue inflows were affecting service delivery.
