Harare City Council Sorely To Blame For The City's Water Crisis - Ziyambi Ziyambi

The Acting Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Ziyambi Ziyambi laid all the blame for the Harare Water crisis on the City Fathers mainly because he said the council was undercharging its services hence the lack of funds to maintain and provide services to Harare residents.

The Minister said:

Council is operating with its 2018 Budget as it is yet to have its 2019 budget approved due to the poor quality of the document. The 2018 tariffs are grossly inadequate to sustain operations in the current economic climate.

Council has been charging sub economic tariffs for water for a number of years and as a result there has been a serious underfunding in the water account for maintenance and repairs.Although Harare has submitted supplementary budget for 2019, the water tariff pegs the price of a cubic meter of purified water less than the price of a 500ml bottle of purified water.

“The City has no billing system and last sent out statements to residents in April. In an economic environment such as prevalent in Zimbabwe, few consumers will pay without being requested to do so. Although the council sent out bills during the last week, the bills are for April 2019 meaning that they are five months in arrears.

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The Council has been acquiring its water chemicals on a hand to mouth basis without stockpile for unforeseen occasions. The Council using foreign currency availed to them by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe currently has supply of chlorine gas en route from South Africa but supplies have run out. The Council lost the respect of its residents due to its failure to offer reasonable services.

Harare City Council announced that it would shut down its water plant on Monday due to lack of chemicals to purify the water. The government reportedly intervened swiftly and the city fathers announced that by today many parts of Harare will have water.

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