Please Pay the E30 Million Owed Rates
Manzini News would like to appeal to property owners to please make an effort to pay the outstanding rates that the Municipal Council of Manzini is presently owed.
That would make it easier and faster for the local government to attend to all the highlighted damages in a short period of time. Fixing of the damaged roads, lights and clearing of existing overgrowth requires resources and that E30 million can make a lot of difference.
Therefore, if you own property and still have not paid your rates in full, please make it a point that you pay something towards your outstanding balance this January. When you see the lights on at night time, ask yourself where the money that keeps them functioning comes from. Like any other power consumer, Council pays large sums of money to the Eswatini Electricity Company to keep the high mast lights, street lights and traffic lights functioning. It is not like local governments enjoy free power. It is also costly to patch the potholes. Bitumen doesn’t come cheap. Same can be said about overgrowth clearing. A lot of fuel goes into it and Council is required to foot the bill to keep the brush cutters on the go. Therefore, please make an effort to pay your rates so that service delivery glitches can be a thing of the past. If you don’t afford to pay the outstanding amount all at once, please approach the Finance Director and agree on an affordable payment plan. It doesn’t help to bury the head in the sand and ignore the rates debt because it keeps on accumulating; and at the end of the day the legal amends that take effect come back to bite you. If you do not have time to come to the Rates Hall to pay, you have the option to pay by electronic funds transfer (account can be sourced from Finance Department). You can also pay through a debit order arrangement. Alternatively, you can just phone Council and request the Finance Department to bring a mobile swiping machine. Even more exciting, you can now pay through Mobile Money. Contact Council or MTN Eswatini and you will get guidance on how to use Mobile Money to pay your rates.
