Council seeks help of bailiffs to recover K2m debts

Wed, 05 Apr 2017 11:04:11 +0000

By ROGERS KALERO

MUFULIRA Municipal Council (MMC) is to set bailiffs on residents who owe the local authority money in unpaid land rates so that it can raise money to settle the two-month salary arrears it owes its workers.

This was disclosed yesterday by MMC assistant public relations manager Melvin Mukela.

But Zambia United Local Authority Workers Union (ZULAWU) general secretary Kingsley Zulu said the two-month salary arrears the council owes its workers was allegedly due to mismanagement by senior council officials.

Mr Mukela said the council had failed to pay its workers in the last two months because residents were not paying land rates, hence the council was contemplating setting bailiffs on defaulting residents.

He said the council was owed more than K2 million in unpaid land rates by residents in the district which, if recovered, would go a long way to settle the salary arrears owed to workers.

He said apart from the K2 million unpaid land rates by the residents, the council was also expecting to get K1.3 million from Mopani Copper Mines (MCM) for property rates which was paid quarterly.

“So, as a council, we are sure that if we get the money which we are owed by the residents in unpaid land rates and we get the money from MCM, we will be able to raise enough money to settle the salary arrears.

‘‘We have also other sources where we will get the money to make sure we settle the salary arrears. So because the residents have not been paying the land rates, we are contemplating setting bailiffs on them,” Mr Mukela said.

But, Mr Zulu said the salary arrears which the council was owing its workers was due to mismanagement by senior council officials at the local authority.

Mr ZULU said Mufulira Municipal Council was the only local authority on the Copperbelt that was failing to pay workers’ salaries, saying that it was facing serious financial challenges which needed urgent intervention.

Mr Zulu said there was ‘‘rampant corruption and mismanagement’’ at the council and that Government should intervene and bring sanity to the council before the situation got out of hand.

He alleged that money that the council was raising through rates from the mines was being misapplied.

“We wonder how the management at Mufulira council is using the money. It collects over K30,000 per day through various levies and one wonders where the money is going to. It is the only council on the Copperbelt which is failing to pay its workers.

“This is why, as a union, we are appealing to the Local Government Service Commission to consider redeploying some management officials as they have failed to run the council,” Mr Zulu said

He said investigations by the union indicated that problems at Mufulira council were more to do with mismanagement.

“Mufulira council has a monthly wage bill of K1.6million with over 400 workers,” he said.

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