Zinwa, Mhangura residents up in arms

MHANGURA residents are up in arms with the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) over high fixed charges.

These charges, residents contend, are not commensurate with the service they are getting.

“We are being overcharged here and yet we hardly get water to drink in some areas, while the sewer infrastructure is giving in owing to inattention,” said a resident Pedzisai Mupangi.

Residents note that the fixed water charge of $7 per month for high density suburbs is too high.

A three to four-hour window is open for residents to access water from 6am to around 9am, while in some areas like Chebanga and Damba high density suburbs, taps have been dry for months. There is a programme to install individual household taps at a cost of around $30 each, but the majority of people are struggling to raise the amount.

“We have a problem with the fixed charges considering that water is being rationed and our ways of life have deteriorated since the closure of the mine,” said Major Kachingwe, another resident.

“Charging us $7 is unfair considering the fact that a house in Harare’s Borrowdale Brooke is charged almost the same amount.”

Zinwa is charging about $5 for sewerage every month, which only affects those with ZINWA accounts.

This comes when only about a quarter of those using common toilets have the Zinwa accounts, meaning the minority is subsidising the majority.

“There are a lot of loopholes related to Zinwa billing,” observed Mr Ishmael Ncube.

“The most glaring one being that the majority of those using public toilets are not in their database for billing.”

Officials at the Zinwa Mhangura office declined to comment, referring all questions to the National Water Call Centre.

Efforts to get a comment from the Zinwa head office were fruitless yesterday.