BY NHAU MANGIRAZI THE Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) has given a seven day grace period to all illegal water connections to be regularised or disconnected.
In a statement, Zinwa warned all ghost account holders against the practice saying they are depriving the water authority from making profits.
“It has come to the attention of the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) that there are a considerably high number of individuals and entities that have been illegally or improperly connected to the Zinwa water reticulation systems in small towns, growth points and rural service centres. Zinwa has also noted, with great concern, a spike in the cases of vandalism of water distribution components and infrastructure in the various centres.”
Zinwa said all illegal connections led to unsustainable levels of non-revenue water and serious distortions of the water use patterns in the concerned areas.
“In most cases, these illegally connected individuals and entities do not have Zinwa account numbers or receive water bills like others, but are made to pay certain monthly amounts to those who would have helped them to illegally connect to the system.
Zinwa is giving such individuals and entities a seven (7) day moratorium, starting Monday, May 23, 2022, to regularize their water connections with no questions being asked; following which Zinwa crack teams shall be deployed across stations to check compliance and to look for any illegal connections with a view to bring offenders to book.
The concerned individuals and entities should approach their respective Zinwa offices for purposes of regularizing their water connections. Those not sure of the status of their water connections are advised to visit their nearest Zinwa offices and verify.”
They said illegal disconnections were a criminal offence in terms of the Criminal Law Amendment (Protection of power, communications and water infrastructure) Act, 2011 and offenders are liable to a mandatory custodial term of not less than 10 years.
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“The same also applies to those individuals vandalizing water infrastructure,” they said.
Zinwa supplies water to towns such as Karoi, Gwanda, Magunje, Victoria Falls, and several other growth points throughout the country.
