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Zinwa
spoiling for uprising over water
Precious Shumba,
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
October 13, 2006
http://www.theindependent.co.zw/viewinfo.cfm?linkid=30&id=7704
THE Combined Harare
Residents Association (CHRA) reiterates that the Zimbabwe National
Water Authority (Zinwa) must immediately cede to the municipality
the responsibility of supplying and administering water in Harare
because it has failed to provide the services.
No substantive
benefits have accrued to local authorities in Zimbabwe since Zinwa
came on board.
Persistent bickering
between the City of Harare and Zinwa over accountability to residents
in cases of quality of water, leakages, inadequate supplies and
billing have put residents in an unnecessary dilemma.
The absence
of a memorandum of understanding between the City of Harare and
Zinwa is disastrous and is a corrupt business arrangement that CHRA
rejects in total.
Residents cannot
and will not be coerced to pay unreasonable, unjustified and unlawful
water rates coming from a water body that is unaccountable to them
but only to the government especially when Zinwa is cash-strapped.
Zinwa has proposed
to increase water rates from the current $8 to $100 per cubic metre.
CHRA views Zinwa
as a state project whose objective is to expand its feeding trough.
Benefits only
accrue to selected individuals and organisations whose allegiance
is well known.
Percy Toriro,
the city’s public relations manager, was quoted as saying: "It is
important that as the two utilities involved, we should have a formal
agreement in place to rationalise the relationship and apportion
specific responsibilities to either party so that residents are
not short-changed."
But Willie Muringani,
Zinwa’s board chairperson, said their main concern regarding water
supplies was the pricing system.
Muringani was
quoted as saying: "The right price will guarantee the continued
existence of water delivery services. If we continue to make a loss
because of the unrealistic prices, we will not be able to provide
water."
This is unpalatable
given that Harare’s water system has not been efficient for years,
electricity has been erratic and the tendering process has been
questionable and corrupt.
An uprising
by the residents of Harare is imminent if the current scenario persists
where an unnecessary water body dictates how much we should pay
in water rates. This can certainly attract a national outcry.
We demand that
the City of Harare take full ownership of the capital’s water supply
and administration before Zinwa triggers a residents uprising over
water bills.
Visit
the CHRA fact
sheet
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