Harare Residents' Trust: Water crisis

 

City of Harare Water Department in serious trouble: HRT Update

12 April 2011

Mabvuku- the Harare Residents’ Trust (HRT) is pleased to note that the City of Harare water services department has succumbed to the demands of the residents on the issues of outstanding “arrears” in the resident’s water accounts. The department did the unthinkable and partnered the HRT in meeting residents to discuss ways of dealing with outstanding bills. Although the consultation process was intense and antagonistic in nature, it was the beginning. The residents of Tafara and Mabvuku appreciate the attitude. However several issues have emerged following the so-called consultation with residents. The action by officials at the City’s District Offices and the public utterances during residents community forums have left more questions unanswered. The HRT is not clear what motive has really prompted the Council to be so desperate for people to pay. Is it not the City’s desperation for or unquenchable thirst for rate payers’ money?

According to the Water Department, when the multi-currency payment system was introduced in February 2009, all residents across Harare were debited US$10 meaning that if a resident owed City of Harare any amount, US$10 was added to that. The basis is unclear and was not properly explained. The residents in many communities in Harare had not been receiving water supplies for several years even for a period of four plus years. The Harare water department has embarked on a consultative process with the idea of restoring back the confidence of the residents in the department, trying to convince the residents to clear their so-called outstanding water “bills”. Two of the first meetings were held in collaboration with the HRT in Mabvuku and Tafara on 9 April 2011. The HRT appreciates the effort by the department to conduct this consultative process. Engineer Christopher Magwenzi Zvobgo becomes only the first from the City of Harare to be genuinely interested in hearing out the residents on rates payment. This also goes to show that the City of Harare public relations department is totally dead and has no working relationship with the public.

Nonetheless, moving on to the core side of the mighty pendulum, from the HRTs’ observation, the Water Department is in serious trouble with the residents of Harare. ON their part, the City officials from the Water Department wanted to discuss the issue of arrears and the idea of installing new water meters. Residents viewed this as a futile attempt by the City of Harare to justify the high water bills. Of contention by the residents was the fact that the City of Harare has repeatedly failed to explain why the residents of Tafara and Mabvuku had no water supplies in the last three years. Residents urged the council to desist from sending out baseless water bills because they have not had consistent water supplies. This has led residents to resist making any payments for their rates.

The officials highlighted that the Water department appreciates that there were no water supplies in the two communities for a period of five years (2005-2010) and several other localities. In explaining the situation the City officials highlighted the following;

  • residents were not billed for water supplies but for the water infrastructure alone,
  • no interest was charged in the residents’ water accounts during the stated period ,
  • no arrears were carried forward from ZINWA into the residents’ accounts,
  • the water department only charges 10% interest on outstanding water bills per year and not per month and;
  • The water department incurs so many expenses in water treatment and transportation from water sources, covering pumping, treatment, supplying, which justifies the water bills.

Representatives from the water engineering, public relations department, finance and water treatment department attended these meetings.

Recommendations by Harare Water:

  • The Harare water officials urged the residents to go to their district offices and make payment plans to clear their accounts of the debts,
  • To pay at least 10% of their debts per month to clear the accumulated debts.
  • The officials said that continued resistance by the residents will not help in any way as legal action will definitely be taken against them.
  • Residents should make a payment plan by 30 April 2011 at their district offices, failure of which would result in council disconnecting water supplies by 1 May 2011 leading to legal action in the form of summons to court for in the event of nonpayment is not workable and is absolute nonsense.

Residents Position at the Meetings:

  1. Residents were unequivocal on their demands for a complete write-off of their debts saying when the multi-currency system was introduced, they expected to pay at least US$20 every month, but they found themselves in heavy debts, whose source has not been explained.
  2. Most residents expressed concern at the attitude of city employees at the Mabvuku and Tafara District Offices who burdened residents by refusing to accept payments of less than US$20, forcing the majority to return home with their money and spent it elsewhere since the City of Harare employees had shown that the City did not want money from the poor.
  3. The huge bills that have accumulated to residents are seen as unjustified, illegal and should remain unpaid. As for the threats to disconnect water, residents were not intimidated and in fact challenged the City officials to dare them. They are now more than ready for real battle to defend their rights. City employees have to be prepared to face off angry mobs in the suburbs who have vowed to re-connect disconnected water supplies. Tafara and Mabvuku residents said that this would not affect them since they have survived for long without water supplies.
  4. Residents rejected the idea of payment plans to pay for water not consumed. The water billing was uniform implying that figures were cooked in offices to cover up for certain misdemeanors by officials. The residents highlighted that making payment plans is totally a non starter since they believe that the accumulated debt was due to the fact the City of Harare billed them for nonexistent water supplies and also due to the unaffordability of the water rates. Although the HRT managed to ensure that the whole process was violent free, there was no consensus reached between the residents and the water department.

According to the officials, only US$26 000 was raised in rates from Mabvuku and Tafara from January to March 2011, confirming the impact of the HRT viewpoint that residents will not pay for non-existent services and will not tolerate imposed budgets. The pressure is on the City of Harare to deliver before they can talk about residents paying their outstanding bills. If not then they have a long battle on their hands as residents have resolved to only pay what they can afford.

One wonders then what kind of response the water department is likely to get from other more vocal and volatile communities. But as the HRT, we are prepared more than they appreciate to have joint meetings in the communities, first with key stakeholders to find a lasting solutions before a public meeting is convened, otherwise they will soon have no salaries for senior management and their workers.

HRT Message to the Residents of Harare:

  • Residents of Harare in both high and low density suburbs should only pay a fixed rate of US$15 to the City of Harare every month, and keep receipts, to ensure that they are up to date with their rentals and rates. This will go on until the City of Harare has acceded to the demands of the Urban Councils’ Act (Chapter 29:15) and the finalization of the court case Number HC2830/ 11 which the HRT has filed with the High Court.
  • All the debts should be scrapped off from the residents accounts to ensure that they start a working relationship with the Harare water department off a fresh page as there is a strong conviction that the residents were billed for none existent services.
  • Residents should not fear water cuts or legal action by the City of Harare as cutting supplies is a violation of human fundamental rights themselves and will be fought in the streets by a united citizenry.
  • The decision by the Water department to consult the residents on the “arrears” is an indication that the residents have power and that the department desperately requires financial resources from the residents – it is time that the residents of Harare move from the closed consciousness stage, assume power and show public institutions like the City of Harare that as the people ‘you have the power for social change and institutional reform.

In the Service of Residents- HRT- for a free AND Prosperous Citizenry!

For details please contact us on 0772 869 294/ 0773 249 039 or email us on info@hrt.org.zw/ hretrust@yahoo.com