Water challenges may have a bearing on Hwange council elections

Calvin Manika

The water challenges bedeviling Hwange will be one of the council election deciders in the coal-mining town, we can reveal.

Residents feel the local authority was complicit in the introduction of pre-paid water meters by the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) which has reportedly exarcebated the water crisis. 

Residents of Hwange were called to a meeting on December 10, 2021, where pre-paid water meters were the topic for discussion. Less than 20 individuals showed up for the meeting in a show of protest. As a pilot study, ZINWA had already installed 10 pre-paid water meters at some  Empumalanga homesteads. The regulating authority went on to install more pre-paid meters.

Two years down the line, residents in Hwange are complaining about pre-paid water because they have experienced water shedding just like others who used the previous system. The pre-paid water system has received a hostile reception for excluding the bulk of the community’s poor residents.

“ZINWA is in the wrong and we also blame our council members and the local board for not standing with the residents. Before deciding whether to install pre-paid water meters or not, ZINWA should have consulted residents thoroughly through public meetings, social media platforms, and any other platform that may reach a sizable number of residents,” said Trace Siwela, a resident.

Zimbabwe is holding elections this year, and many political parties and candidates for local office have access to portable water as an item on their manifestos. The Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA)’s decision to install prepaid water meters is being challenged by residents of Hwange, who claim that a change in leadership following the upcoming elections could represent their interests better on this matter. They argue that consultations with the residents should take place before such important decisions are made.

Courage Taipa, a local governance consultant indicated that ZINWA and Hwange Local Board (HLB) should have discontinued pursuing policies that are directly opposed to the interests of public health and the progressive realization of the right to water guaranteed by Section 77 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (Number 20) Act of 2013.  

Taipa said, regardless of political, economic, or social standing, everyone has the right to drink water, which is recognized by all democratic systems of governance. For customers to feel confident, the water’s quality must meet the fundamental requirements established by the World Health Organization (WHO) and be clearly clean.

“ZINWA’s persistence in implementing prepaid water meters in the face of residents’ concerns shows a lack of democracy and a lack of citizen participation in governance and administration in the coal mining town. Democracy requires commitment to widely held public opinions by its very nature,” Taipa said.

Prior to the introduction of prepaid water meters by the authority, residents paid their water bills at the end of each month after consumption. Customers of the new system must go online and pay for a code that grants them a certain number of “tokens” of water. When the tokens are depleted, the meter automatically stops the water supply until the customer purchases more.

Greater Whange Residents Trust said they are against the pre-paid water system as it does not promote the right to water to all residents. The residents trust said people cannot survive without water.

“They initially installed the system without consulting us. But we did raise our concern around that. And we were to engage each other, ZINWA and HLB on the issue of prepaid alternatives. The community itself became divided along the way some were for prepaid water and some were against it. But our position as Greater Whange Residents Trust (GWRT) is that we are against pre-paid water meters on the basis that water should always be there all the time, especially among the poor communities who at times might have challenges in terms of making payment. Water should not be commercialized or commodified. That is our position as residents’ trust,” said Fidelis Chima, the coordinator of the trust.

Community Podium learned that, in accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution Number GA 10967, 64/292, which Zimbabwe ratified, “Recognizing Access to Clean Water and Sanitation as a Human Right,” delivered on July 28, 2010, at the 64th General Assembly meeting, it should be the local authority’s responsibility to provide the affected citizen with 20 litres of water daily until the water is restored. The resolution emphasises that, everyone has the right to water, which should never be restricted.

According to experts on local governance, this right cannot be violated in the name of profit. Taipa said, the much-discussed land reform initiative, which culminated in the financial collapse of November 14, 1997, often known as “Black Friday,” was the root cause of Zimbabwe’s current political and economic turmoil. The Zimbabwean currency at the time decreased over the course of four hours of trading from about Z$10 to below Z$30, to US$1.

“Despite government’s efforts to contain the situation, a serious economic and political catastrophe occurred in the following months. The highly contested presidential and parliamentary elections of 2002 made the economy of the nation much worse. As a result, service providers now place more emphasis on electoral and economic benefits than on providing services like water. This subsequently caused a water crisis, which has since grown problematic, particularly for low-income women and girls residing in residential areas with severe water stress,” said Taipa.

GRWT said, the previous system was such that one is supposed to have water all the time, but unfortunately ZINWA would cut it off, after realizing that people were accumulating some huge debts. The trust said it was opposed to that as it believes that water under whatever circumstances should always be available.

“So the best way to deal with the defaulter is to ensure that you probably negotiate with them to pay you or do a payment plan. And the worst case scenario is that you can even do a litigation against them. But unfortunately, you notice that the old system was such that the, the water system itself was very archaic. They were leakages and they would base their charges on estimates. ZINWA had to take advantage of the loopholes of the system to introduce prepaid automated equipment which seems to be a little bit better in terms of recording accurate amounts of water consumed,” said Chima.

Chima added that currently, residents are facing water challenges because ZINWA supplies water to the local board in what is called bulk metering, so local board has to supply the residents. 

“So when ZINWA tries to recover its money, it doesn’t care who paid or not. They just cut off using that bulk meter. They cut off the whole community regardless of whether you paid for the water or you did not pay for it. So, we think the the system, is extremely unfair especially to those who religiously pay,” said Chima.

In Bulawayo, Harare and other big cities, pre-paid meters were rejected for a number of reasons. One reason being the violation of the right to water.

A spokesman for the water authority, Marjorie Munyonga disputes claims that ZINWA is bent on privatising water. She claims that because the devices are a new innovation to assist with water resource management, the updates to prepaid water meters were essential.

“In actuality, unlike the previous metering system, prepayment meters give users more control over their patterns of water use. The myth that prepaid water is more expensive stems from the fact that the post-paid and prepaid systems were integrated when the water authority introduced prepaid meters, allowing customers to settle their debts whenever they buy prepaid tokens,” said Munyonga.

“Although not unique to Hwange, the installation of prepaid water meters took place in other communities where ZINWA provides clean water, including Karoi, Murehwa, Nyanga, Chivhu, and Mvurwi. In the case of Hwange, a consultative meeting of this kind was held on November 10, 2021, and participants included councilors, members of the business community, and representatives of government departments as well as representatives of the Hwange Local Board, Greater Hwange Residents Association, and Hwange Residents Association,” added Munyonga.

Greater Whange Residents Trust insisted that water supply in Hwange must not have a dual system. The organisation said water distribution must be handed over to Hwange Local Board while ZINWA deals with the regulatory and policy issues around issues of water management. 

A local resident said, the councilors who will be voted into office this year must work on the separation of power on water management.

“We have been suffering in terms of water supply in Hwange. As politicians come to us, water management and distribution are the issues we want them to explain on how they will tackle the issues when voted into office,” said Edison Mhlanga of Empumalanga Suburb. 

Under section 77 of Zimbabwe’s 2013 constitution, “every person has the right to safe, clean, and potable water.” The government is obligated to take reasonable legislative and other measures, within the limits of available resources, to achieve the progressive realization of the right to water.