NSSA struggles to recover rent arrears
THENational Social Security Authority (NSSA) is struggling to recover debts for unpaid rentals for some of its properties and is contemplating writing them off, particularly smaller amounts, an official said yesterday.
NSSA chief property investment officer, Kurauwone Chihota told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Accounts that some tenants such as those that occupied the Ximex Mall before it was demolished, have since gone into hiding.
“I believe we have over $2 million outstanding. We have categorised that some of the smaller tenants, for example for Ximex Mall which was destroyed downtown, those tenants have been untraceable. We have made a recommendation that we write off those debts on those we cannot find,” he said.
Mr Chihota, however, said NSSA would continuously track down debtors to ensure they paid up.
“We are continually debt collecting by our managing agent. We have done an economic feasibility where certain debt collection measures are not viable at a corporate stage. It does not make sense to spend $1 000 to chase $1 200 so we are resorting to an incentive basis with some debt collectors to chase those kind of debts,” he said.
“It is an ongoing process where we are seeking actively to chase after our debtors,” he added.
According to the Auditor General’s report for 2016, NSSA has a number of properties within its property investment portfolio which have been lying idle for a long time.
Some of the properties were occupied by non-paying tenants leading to loss of revenue.