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The residents attributed the delays in receiving their bills to the processing of statements in either Gweru or Kwekwe.

They said the two utilities needed to upgrade their billing systems at their sub-offices at Gokwe Town.

The chairman of the Gokwe Residents Association, Mr Trynos Tazviwana, said the residents had since held a meeting with both Zesa and Zinwa officials to have the problem addressed.

“Gokwe attained town status many years ago yet we still have our Zesa bills processed in Kwekwe while our water bills are processed at the Zinwa offices in Gweru. This has caused a lot of inconveniences to us as residents. Last week, we had a meeting with both Zesa and Zinwa officials to have our problems addressed,” he said.

Mr Tazviwana said most residents were defaulting due to the inconveniences caused by delays in delivering water and power statements.

“Our major problem is when we receive the bills, they would be so high and if we try to take our queries to the service providers’ sub offices here in Gokwe, we are simply told that everything is done in Kwekwe and Gweru,” he said.

Mr Tazviwana said Zinwa had since launched a blitz disconnecting water supplies from defaulters.

“Many households in Gokwe are being disconnected for defaulting but we feel the problem is with Zinwa because they delay in sending us bills, which are processed in Gweru and most of the times they charge exorbitant rates based mainly on estimates,” he said.

A ZETDC official in Gokwe confirmed that the monthly electricity statements for Gokwe residents were being processed at their offices in Kwekwe.

He also confirmed that the power utility held a meeting with Gokwe residents over the issue of delays in delivering monthly bills.

“We indicated at the meeting that the issue of statements being processed in Kwekwe could only be addressed if the Gokwe office is online with other branches to ease the challenges in the billing system,” said the official who declined to be named for professional reasons.

Zinwa regional manager for Sanyati Catchment area Mr Chengeto Gozo confirmed that water statements for Gokwe were processed in Gweru.

He said the parastatal was still to upgrade its billing system so as to decentralise the process.

“It’s true that our water bills for Gokwe are being done in Gweru. This is because our systems are not that advanced but we are conducting our duties in such a way that we do not deprive our clients of our services,” he said.

Mr Gozo said Zinwa always sent Gokwe Town monthly water statements on time.

He said most of the residents were co-operating in servicing their accounts.

“Those who are being disconnected would have defaulted for some time but the majority of Gokwe residents are now co-operating,” he said.