Harare, Zimbabwe (News of the South) – “The city says it hired private debt collectors-Wellcash Debt Collectors- who were efficient but their efforts were frustrated by pressure groups.”
The above quote is attributed to Harare City Council Finance Director, Tendai Kwenda.
As the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA), we view this as a brazen attempt by Mr. Kwenda to justify the brutal and illegal operations of Wellcash Debt Collectors.
For the record, the operations of Wellcash resulted in council revenue dwindling as the debt collectors were not remitting the money they would have collected to council.
Our investigations at various district offices revealed that the debt collectors gave the council a raw deal.
On top of that, the debt collectors were charging an extra 10 percent of what residents owed to council and thus their operations were acts of extortion.
In some instances, Wellcash Debt Collectors also seized property from residents despite the fact that in Zimbabwe there is no Act of Parliament that empowers debt collectors to issue threats or attach property on behalf of creditors.
After strenuous efforts by CHRA to stop Wellcash Debt Collectors, Harare Mayor, Ben Manyenyeni concurred that the operations of the debt collectors were “brutal or at best arrogant” after which council resolved to terminate the contract of the debt collectors.
CHRA says NO TO DEBT COLLECTORS and reiterates that corruption by council bigwigs is the major reason behind poor service delivery in Harare.
#notodebtcollectors
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