Zvimba Rural District Council (ZRDC) has taken the City of Harare to the High Court demanding over $6,4 million for water drawn from Manyame River and treated at Morton Jaffray water works for distribution among city residents.
BY CHARLES LAITON
The rural council claims that Harare has not been paying the requisite levies and rates for the plant and the water, which is within its area of jurisdiction since January 2009.
It further argued that in terms of the third schedule to Rural District Council Act, “it is allowed to levy or charge the defendant (City of Harare) land levy and other levies and taxes for any developments fixed in its district”.
“The plaintiff (ZRDC) wrote to the defendant by way of a letter of demand in July 2015 and gave the defendant a breakdown of the levies due to the plaintiff by the defendant for commercial water extraction by defendant in plaintiff’s district,” ZRDC said.
“The plaintiff issued the defendant with operational permits from 2009 up to 2015 for the extraction of new commercial water. The defendant after extracting the water, sales the water to its residents at a profit without equally paying the plaintiff’s as provided for in the third schedule to the Rural District Councils Act.
“The plaintiff’s assessment notice to defendant for the period January 2009 to an estimated December 31, 2015 of the water extracted by defendant plus 6% interest comes to $6 472 582 as per the letter of demand sent to defendant by plaintiff in July 2015.”
But, City of Harare dismissed claims that Morton Jaffray Waterworks was located on ZRDC’s land, arguing that the plant sits on State land.
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The municipality also said it does not sell water for profit, but was in existence to provide services to residents.
“The money paid by residents is used to treat water and repair infrastructure to ensure that there is continuous water provision. It is disputed that the defendant has any legal obligation to pay any levies and rates as claimed and plaintiff is put to the strict proof of its allegations,” City of Harare said.
“Defendant denies being issued with any extraction permits, in any event defendant is already under obligation to pay levies for water extraction to Manyame catchment and Upper Manyame sub-catchment in terms of the water Act.”
