Zinwa, council water control tussle gets to court

THE Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) has taken Beitbridge Municipality to court over a $32 million debt accruing from June 2011 as the battle to control the town’s water affairs rages on.

The two entities have a long-standing dispute over the handling of water affairs in the town.

Zinwa is selling bulk water to the council which then sells treated water to the more than 70 000 residents after putting a mark-up. This has pushed up water tariffs with residents now paying an average of $8 000 monthly.

Beitbridge town clerk, Mr Loud Ramakgapola confirmed yesterday that they received summons from Zinwa legal team last week.

He said though they were still interested in running their own water affairs, there was a need for the town to service its debt with Zinwa.

“Our situation has been made worse by the fact that residents owe us $90 million in water and rates from 2011. So we have called for a meeting (tomorrow) with the residents, business and opinion leaders. We must not prolong servicing this debt. We need to come up with a strategy to pay Zinwa,” said Mr Ramakgapola.

He said they were also owed $5,2 million in outstanding lease charges and $1 million for stands servicing. He said initially they owed Zinwa $53 million and they were left with $32 million when $18 million was written off at the intervention of the Government.

Since 2011 there has been a tug of war between the local authority and Zinwa with the former arguing that part of the debt was accrued from non-revenue water, that is water lost before reaching the council distribution points.

Mr Ramakgapola said it was critical for residents and businesses to play ball by paying the monies owed to the local authority.

“At the next meeting, we need to agree with the residents and ratepayers on a way forward. You will note that the overall revenue collection rate currently stands at 29 percent and for water it’s at 14 percent.

“This is not sustainable, we need to act now to salvage our situation. So we have invited among others those that owe us a lot of money to come over a round table,” said the official.

Mr Ramakgapola said in 2018 they agreed in principle with Zinwa that they should park the debt and focus on making weekly payment for current water supplies.

He said since then they have been making weekly payments of $200 000 which was revived to $400 000 in September this year.

He said the arrangement can be sustained with the over 7 000 property owners making commitments to servicing their debts.-herald.co.zw