Back to Index

Water service delivery: A dream for the majority of Zimbabweans
Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition
October 22, 2010

"Access to safe water is a fundamental human need and therefore a basic human right' Koffi Annan (2006)."

The United Nations General Assembly in June 2010 highlighted the importance of water as an inalienable right which is intertwined with the right to life. In a draft resolution presented at the meeting, the UN recognize "the right to safe and clean water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of the right to life. For more than five years, Zimbabwe has been experiencing acute water shortages particularly in the capital, Harare. To add salt to injury, the Harare City Council reported in the Herald of Tuesday the 19th of October 2010that it will embark on massive disconnections on defaulting consumers with effect from 31 October. In some parts of the city which include Mbare, Glen Norah and Kuwadzana, water supplies have already been disconnected leaving consumers to device and create ways to access water.

The issue of water disconnections brings with it negative implications especially in view of the dangers of spreading of communicable diseases such as cholera which ravaged communities between 2008 and 2009 leaving close to 4, 000 people dead. If water for primary purposes such as drinking and cooking is disconnected, residents are left with no choice but it use unsafe water source.

The majority of Zimbabweans are finding it difficult to pay their water bills which are pegged at exorbitant cost. Some bills are as high as US$500 in a country where the average worker receives US$200 salary a month. What makes the situation worse is that 80% of urban residents are drinking unsafe water with the City of Harare failing to deliver 100 percent safe, clean water. All the council seems to be doing is to complain that ratepayers are not paying bills without asking themselves why they should pay. The answer lies in that despite incessant pleas by the ratepayers for local authorities to slash their salaries and direct resources to service delivery, the relevant officials have been adamant and ignorant. Some officials are allegedly pocketing as much pocketing as much as US$15, 000 in monthly salaries at a time when most civil servants are earning about US$150.

I addition, the harare Mayor, Muchadeyi Masunda is on record saying the salaries are rational arguing that these officials are professional are professional and it is expensive to retain skilled staff. However, the major question one would ask is 'do the ratepayers deserve a group of professionals who demand colossal salaries yet do not care about the efficient service delivery?' When the government took over the management of water from the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) and returned it to the council early this year, there was hope that the water situation would improve but by now this ahas not happened. Combined Harare Residents Association of Zimbabwe (CHRA) chief executive officer Barnabas Mangodza las week asked the government to intervene in addressing Harare's water woes. Mr Mangodza said that since transfer of water management from Zinwa no significant improvement in water supplies has taken place in Harare suburbs.

The City of Harare cannot short change consumers by providing water which is below acceptable standards and threatening to disconnect defaulting customers yet they continue awarding themselves high salaries. The presence of professional personnel should be tied with competitive water service delivery. Article 11 and 12 if International Covenant on Economics, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) 1976 clearly spell out human rights obligations to sanitation and water, they also propound that improving sanitation and water service delivery is indispensable for human development. Therefore water is central to life and industrial development and the responsible Ministry should look into the situation and work towards ensuring safe drinking water to all citizens.

Visit the Crisis in Zimbabwe fact sheet

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP