Residents have threatened to reject a proposal by the cash-strapped city council to introduce a pump levy in its $26 million 2012 budget.
The local authority has proposed to levy each household a one-off $20 to replace its ageing water pumps at Gwenhoro Dam.
According to the proposed budget statement by finance director Edgar Mwedzi, the $20 fee will help solve the perennial water problems in the Midlands capital.
Presenting the budget proposal last month, Mwedzi said the municipality wanted to replace two dresser pumps at Gwenhoro Dam, which were bought in the 1940s and frequently broke down.
Council said the new pumps would be imported from the United Kingdom.
But Cornelius Seliphiwe, the chairperson of the Gweru Residents’ and Ratepayers’ Association slammed the proposal saying residents would resist attempts to introduce the levy.
“As residents we are worried how the council came up with this figure of $20,” Seliphiwe said.
“Council has already informed us that they are running on a tight budget because very few residents are paying their rates.
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“If they introduce that one-off payment on the already struggling residents it means they will not get anything.”
Pellargia Maurudze of Mkoba 19 said solving the water problems had become council’s rallying point each year, but with no solution in sight.
“When they presented this year’s budget they told us they had got funding from a Germany organisation GTZ (Germany Technical Co-operation) to solve the water problems, yet during the course of this year the problems worsened with areas that used to get water failing to access the precious commodity. “We will not allow the council to woodwink us while they are fattening their pockets.”
Last year, council told residents GTZ had pledged €1,7 million for the upgrading of the local authority’s water and sewer reticulation system, but Mwedzi said the money had not yet come through.
