HARARE residents are spoiling for a fight with the city council after the latter recently disconnected water supplies to 1 200 households mostly in Mbare and other high-density suburbs over unpaid bills, NewsDay has learnt.
By Silence Charumbira
The disconnections targetted residents of Mbare National, Ardbennie, Avondale, Avonlea, Strathaven, Emerald Hill, Marlborough, Goodhope, Greencroft, Msasa Industry, Bluff Hill, Tynwald, Westlea, Mabelreign and Sunridge, most of whom have had erratic water supplies for the past few years.
Angered by the move, the Harare Residents’ Trust (HRT) yesterday urged affected families to reconnect the water on their own, describing the disconnections as inhuman.
HRT director Precious Shumba said: “As HRT, we urge every disconnected residents to reconnect their water. They have to make sure that each person gets at least 20 litres of water per day as stipulated by the United Nations Resolution A/RES/64/292. Council is trying to raise funds to finance the obscene salaries for people like town clerk Tendai Mahachi.”
The move is also likely to put council on a collision course with Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo who recently ordered local authorities not to disconnect water supplies over unpaid bills.
But, council spokesperson Michael Chideme told NewsDay that the decision to disconnect water came about after it was realised that some residents had stopped paying their water bills in July 2013.
“Each defaulter is on average owing $500 while the majority have not paid a penny since July 2013 after the write-offs,” Chideme said.
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He said they would continue going around the capital city making sure that all defaulters were disconnected.
“Yes, we can confirm that the city is going round disconnecting water for defaulters. The reason is we need money to finance service delivery. We are not able to provide water when people are not paying,” Chideme added.
“We know it is a basic human right, but we need residents to appreciate that the provision has to be funded by the consumer. This is not a way of punishing people, but to encourage everyone with an overdue account to pay.”
Chombo could not be reached for comment yesterday.
