Chitungwiza municipality introduces steep penaltie...

Chitungwiza municipality introduces steep penalties to curb lawlessness

Zim Now Writer

Chitungwiza Municipality has introduced measures aimed at implementing development control through enforcing by-laws.

Chitungwiza Acting Mayor, Councilor Kiven Mutimbanyoka, told Zim Now that the activities are being implemented to restore order and sanity in the town.

“We need to clean up our town because the level of lawlessness has become too much. We have already started enforcing some of the new policies and we have also raised awareness among the residents through road shows.

“Council has been losing revenue and these activities will help council realise revenue so we can give our residents the quality services they deserve,” he said.

The Municipality has introduced a US$1 per day penalty for all vendors and a US$5 penalty for those selling sofas on the streets.

The Municipality has introduced a storage fee after an hour of vehicle impounding, towing of all vehicles parked at unregistered car parks, demolition of perimeter or boundary walls encroaching original stand pegs.

Chitungwiza Municipality Public Relations Officer Lovemore Meya concurred the measures are being done to improve service delivery.

“Every local authority is guided by by-laws which guide residents, and as Chitungwiza council we are enforcing them.

“People selling bricks and sofas, for instance, are doing so at undesignated places hence the need for them to be paying fines per day.

“Borehole drillers, both residential and commercial, have to seek approval from council as we have infrastructure that runs underground and if the infrastructure is damaged it becomes a repair burden to the local authority,” he said.

The council will also penalise all uninspected perimeter walls, borehole drilling without council approval, tempering with water meters, water theft or bypassing the water meter, illegal water and sewage connections and damage to council infrastructure.