Katima Mulilo’s residents are unable to pay their municipal bill of N$135 million, despite the council not increasing rates and taxes for the past two financial years.
The town’s chief executive, Raphael Liswaniso, last week said the council decided not to increase rates and taxes, since most residents are unable to pay this due to being unemployed.
He said the town council should be paid N$35 million monthly if all residents pay their municipal bills.
“Knowing they are unable to pay even the current rates and taxes, we have decided to not add 7% for the past two financial years for them to recover. We had hoped the old and new defaulters would then be able to pay their debts that have accumulated.
“Unfortunately, we are still struggling to get residents to pay their debts. The non-payment also happens with land we have sold to the people. We have not been charging the 12% interest on land or any of their accounts since 2017 either,” he said.
Liswaniso then urged residents to not only complain about a lack of service delivery, but to also encourage each other to pay their bills.
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