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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter

THE Victoria Falls Municipality (VFM) has appealed to ratepayers, particularly hotels and tour operators, to record water meter readings at their premises and forward to council as the local authority cannot send meter readers due to the lockdown.

The local authority suspended most of its operations except for refuse collection to reduce crowding and physical contact by residents as it adopted online payment systems for services.

In a statement to the Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ), VFM Town Treasurer Mr Neville Ndlovu said the call does not apply to individual residents who however are also encouraged to pay their rates and bills through online payment methods provided to them.

The initiative is targeted at tourism operators and hotels who are the biggest consumers of water in the resort town.

“Due to lockdown and need to restrict movement, the municipality is not able to send officers to collect meter readings. We are therefore requesting your members to send their meter readings for the month of March,” said Mr Ndlovu.

He said the targeted ratepayers should send meter readings until today 10 April which is the closing date for submission of meter readings to the council treasury office.

When taking a meter reading, one is expected to record all numbers on the meter and also give the date and time the recording took place.

All are encouraged to send the readings on email as no hard copies are being accepted to avoid spread of coronavirus.

After submitting the meter reading, rate payers will be given their bills via email and will be encouraged to pay up using online payment platforms.

Victoria Falls Town Clerk Mr Ronnie Dube recently said there are some services especially on the maintenance side which the local authority would want to carry out but was restricted by lack of finances because no one was paying rates and bills owing to the lockdown.

The individual meter reading and online payment system is aimed at making sure the local authority has revenue to remain operational during the lockdown.

HAZ Victoria Falls chapter chairman Mr Anald Musonza said the decision by the municipality was a wise move as it ensures compliance to the lockdown regulations.

“The request from our municipality shows that they are in compliance with the government directive on lockdown regulations where they can’t send their meter readers to various businesses. This calls for all of us in the community to support our local authority and give them the information so that we keep our municipality operational. I support this idea and it’s for our own good,” said Mr Musonza.

However, he appealed to the municipality to consider reducing some of the rates especially for water and supplementary charges for businesses and residents in the face of Covid-19 induced recession where most will not afford to pay.

Mr Musonza said the tourism sector is grounded as all players such as hotels, lodges, restaurants and tour operators closed businesses in compliance with the lockdown. He said there was hope that business will pick up after the pandemic is gone.

@ncubeleon