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Zinwa has no capacity for clean water provision - Auditor General
Augustine Mukaro, The Zimbabwe Independent
January 05, 2007

http://www.theindependent.co.zw/viewinfo.cfm?linkid=11&id=9683&siteid=1

THE Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) has no capacity to provide clean water without disruptions, the Comptroller and Auditor General's latest audit on the parastatal has revealed.

This comes as Zinwa is in the process of taking over water treatment, distribution and billing from the Harare commission. Zinwa is already in charge of water works in smaller towns, rural service centres and growth points

The audit, which was presented to the Public Accounts Parliamentary Portfolio Committee last year, said Zinwa was failing to provide uninterrupted water of the right quality to its customers in small towns and growth points. The report said the institution lacked an operational plan and had failed to maintain plant, equipment and standby facilities. It also said there was poor record keeping at Zinwa.

"My audit revealed that Zinwa was failing to provide undisrupted water supply and water of the right quality to its customers in small towns, growth points and institutional customers such as Prison Services, Zimbabwe Republic Police and the Defence Forces," Mildred Chisi, the auditor-general wrote in the audit.

She said Zinwa did not have a section that was responsible for coordinating the strategic and operational planning process. The planning section in Zinwa was instead responsible for preparing the catchment's outline plans. The section should under normal circumstances be made up of engineers, technicians and economists who carry out infrastructural planning and developments within the authority.

"The strategic, tactical and operational planning in Zinwa was left without a coordinator and hence was being done haphazardly. I discovered that Zinwa did not have a business plan and that it was not the responsibility of the planning section to formulate one," Chisi said.

"At the time of my audit, according to the planning director, Zinwa was in the process of drafting a business plan, which had not taken shape since inception in 2000," she said.

Chisi said as at January 2004, Zinwa had not made any meaningful strides towards the harmonisation of its operations as evidenced by the fact that each of the catchment areas was doing its own thing in terms of operational planning.

"It's my opinion that lack of planning contributed in a major way to the widespread disruptions of water supply to its customers," she said.

Chisi said maintenance of plant and equipment at water treatment plants were not being done properly.

"My visits to the water treatment stations in the catchment areas revealed that maintenance of plant and equipment was not being done according to standards set by management, and according to the manufacturer's specifications," she said.

"Based on the station inspections which I conducted in the catchment areas, I concluded that maintenance was not being taken as a priority by the authority. I observed that pumps and pipes were rusty and leaking and not all gate valves were working," she said.

"The tanks (reservoirs) were not cleaned at regular intervals. The walls of treatment tanks at most stations were almost falling apart due to cracks and leakages caused by lack of maintenance."

She said lack of proper maintenance of equipment contributed to the increase in the number of breakdowns and also impacted negatively on the health of the consumers as the quality of water could be compromised. Furthermore, an increase in pump breakdowns might result in random water cuts, which have an adverse bearing on sanitation and the consumer's health.

Chisi said Zinwa had failed to maintain the standby facility and as a result stations were failing to cope with the demand for water by consumers.

"The situation was quite serious at growth points and small towns which were undergoing expansion programmes. There is need to have standby pumps and engines at every pumping point. This meant that at least two pump units, working in alternation at monthly intervals, were to be installed at every pumping point in the system," she said.

Chisi said staff manning plant and equipment at most Zinwa stations were not adequately trained, contrary to management assertion that all staff at stations was adequately trained.

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