Plumtree residents and civil servants based in the town say they have run out of patience with Plumtree Town Council over crippling and unexplained water bills, with some households billed as much as US$30,000 in a single month — even for vacant stands.
The Plumtree Combined Residents and Development Association, PCRADA, acting with the consent of residents, and the Association of Government Employees for Economic Development, AGEED, which represents civil servants living in the town, say they have written to Council six times since late June and attended one residents’ meeting. Council has issued only one written reply.
That reply, dated 23 July 2026 from Town Secretary T. Nyoni, did not address the tariffs.
In their final letter on 30 July, the two associations gave Council seven days to act, saying:
“We have exhausted all channels available to us to communicate with Plumtree Town Council on this matter. We have written six times, in good faith, requesting the documents and explanations residents are legally entitled to. A meeting was even convened, and still Council proposed nothing to resolve this issue. Up to now, nothing has changed.”
At the heart of the dispute are bills that bear no resemblance to Council’s own approved rates.
According to minutes from a meeting held on 11 July, Council’s approved monthly rates are US$34.11 for High Density, US$44 for Medium Density and US$50 for Low Density. PCRADA says its own breakdown puts fixed charges before any water is used at US$31.44, US$38.27 and US$46.43 respectively — broadly consistent with those figures.
Yet residents report being billed two to five times that amount, with extremes of US$8,000 and US$30,000 in a single month. Many say they receive no monthly statement at all.
Assessment fees alone have jumped from US$6 to US$18 a month for High Density properties between 2025 and 2026, a 200% increase, with no itemised breakdown or published council resolution, according to the associations.
Council’s own chairman, Cllr Similo Ndlovu, has admitted the problem. At the 11 July meeting at Dingumuzi Hall, attended by PCRADA chairperson Khumalo, vice chairperson Caroline Mukorongo, information secretary Allan Tshuma, and councillors Maxwell Washaya and Godfrey Ngwenya, Cllr Ndlovu told residents directly that the billing system “developed challenges from 2024 running into 2026,” resulting in inconsistent capturing of receipts and payments.
Despite that admission, the associations say Council continues to disconnect water to force payment, including on disputed accounts, and charges a reconnection fee of around US$58 whose council-approved basis has not been disclosed.
Council’s only written response has been to tell the associations to go and collect documents from the Treasury office.
In the 23 July letter, the Town Secretary accused AGEED of fabrication, saying: “I also note in your recent correspondence, you resort to casting aspersions… wherein you ascribe to the office or holder allegations of public statements which are a fabrication. It is rather uncouth for public officials to allege sentiments which are not within the purview of the office/holders’ mandate.”
The letter did not address the level of the tariffs, whether Council intends to review them, or the chairman’s own admissions about the billing system.
Residents have now resolved to petition the Minister of Local Government and Public Works.
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