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Water disconnections remain immoral
Harare Residents Trust (HRT)
November 03, 2010

The Harare Residents' Trust (HRT) has witnessed with dismay as the City of Harare massively disconnect water supplies to residents for non payment. Reports coming from the suburbs indicate that City of Harare workers from Harare Water have rendered thousands of residents helpless as they swooped on their premises, illegally disconnecting their water supplies. By this action alone the City of Harare again demonstrated that it is insensitive to the needs and expectations of the suffering public.

Water remains an inalienable right and cannot be used as a cohesion tool. Considering that Zimbabwe experienced its worst Cholera outbreak in August 2008, claiming nearly 4 000 lives, water supplies to any resident cannot be willingly disconnected. The risk remains. That the cholera outbreak was a result of unclean water sources and acute water shortages is beyond doubt. The potential of a recurrent outbreak of cholera in the over-populated high density suburbs is too dire to contemplate. The HRT has consistently raised concerns over the City's billing system. From interviews conducted with City employees in various departments, and utterances by elected councillors at public gatherings, it can be concluded that the City has an archaic billing system. Authoritative individuals at Town house and Rowan Martin Building have also cast doubts on the City's billing system, concluding that the current system was subject to manipulation.

While the HRT has consistently raised this matter with elected councillors and senior City employees, the system has not been revamped to address the immediate concerns of residents. It is pertinent to note that the City of Harare failed to adjust residents' monthly bills in line with the multi-currency regime introduced in February 2009. If the City had addressed this anomaly, every resident owing the City of Harare in the old Zimdollar currency, every resident should have his/her account standing on less than US$10 in February 2009. Banks obliged and froze all corporate and individual Zimdollar accounts. At the time, the majority of residents had settled their utility bills using the discredited Z$10 trillion notes, which were only acceptable at the City of Harare and the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority. The City of Harare disregarded the strength of the foreign currencies and continued to impose a 51% interest rate on overdue accounts meaning it was business as usual on their part. Residents were penalised for an economic situation beyond their control.

Now that Harare Water employees have decided on their own to disconnect water supplies to the residents, for non-payment, the responsibility is now on the City of Harare to explain how the bills accumulated in the first place, starting in February 2009, breaking down the monthly interest rates to the current bill. The City should indicate to each affected resident the actual meter reading taken from February 2009 than continue to rely on estimated bills they are giving to the residents.

The HRT is urging residents to pay for consumed water, every month and maintain a record of payment. Residents should not pay for bills they do not understand, bills that are unjustified and illegal. The City of Harare has to address its billing system, deal with corruption among Harare Water employees who conspire to inflate bills and respect the rule of law. In this light we request a Mrs Bridget Mandizha, an allocations manager at Remembrance District Office in Mbare to help the HRT understand how some properties are targeted for takeover by the City of Harare. The question that the City must address is; why is it that residents are not paying for their water, on time?

According to a High Court ruling in Case Number HC5948/05, it is illegal to disconnect water for non payment of rates, refuse collection and other non water charges. The City of Harare must urgently find alternative forms of revenue generation than to use water as a fund raising tool.

Contact the HRT on 0772869 294/ 0772771860 or email us on hretrust@yahoo.com

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