Harare Anti-prepaid Water Meter Resistance Campaign Launched

A few civic society organisations together with the Harare Metropolitan Residents Forum have launched an anti-prepaid water meter resistance campaign in opposition to their installation Harare.

This follows statements by the Harare City Council to the effect that it would press ahead with installation of prepaid meters in the capital city. Town Clerk Dr. Tendai Mahachi says Tafara/Mabvuku are targeted for the pilot projected.

The group says this is contrary to a meeting on 9 March where Harare mayor Bernard Manyeneni said this would not happen without all stakeholders were consulted.

They ask these questions:

What the actual position of the City is with regards the Prepaid Meter project? If the City is going ahead with this project, who made the decision and when was it made? Was the full council involved in making this decision? Was there a tender process and when was it done? How many companies were shortlisted?

The group held a demonstration at Town House on Thursday 26 March which it says is part of a concerted campaign to stop the City Council from carrying on.

This is the reason why they oppose the installation:

The installation of prepaid water meters will not result in the increase of water supply and its availability as claimed by some officials at Town House. A case in point is the prepaid electricity meters which clearly have not improved power generation and supply. Currently the City of Harare collects over 50% of revenue from rates and little has been done to address the challenges of water supply and availability. We are not convinced that any new revenue flows will lead to improvements in water supply. If at all, domestic users are not the major debtors of councils. The governments, its various departments and some private sector organisations owe the City millions of dollars. Instead of prepaid water meters the city must come up with a debt collection policy and system.
Already as a city, we have been found wanting in terms of disaster preparedness. This raises serious questions about the ability of the City to effectively monitor and manage a technology system of prepaid water meters. In South Africa this led to serious outbreaks of cholera. With the present threat of disease outbreaks in Harare, there is a real danger of cholera outbreaks as a result of water shortages that may result from prepayments.
In any case the current economic climate does not support this system of pre payments. Residents are wallowing in poverty and urban debt and this will further worsen their situation. The prepayment will affect mostly the elderly and the poor sections of our community. There has not been a clear package for free water that can be easily managed by this system as demanded by the new constitution.

The organisations signatory to this statement are:

Harare Metropolitan Residents Forum (HAMREF), Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD), Community Water Alliance (CWA), Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU). National Youth Organisation(NAYO).

With information from Zimcitizenbuzz