THE CASH-STRAPPED Gwanda municipality has started disconnecting water supplies at hundreds of households in a bid to recover $600 000 it is owed by residents.
ALBERT NCUBE OWN CORRESPONDENT
Previous attempts to plead with residents to pay their bills have been futile since the government ordered the scrapping of all debts owed to local authorities, in the run-up to the general elections.
Last Tuesday evening, council used loud hailers warning residents of the impending water disconnections.
“We will cut water supplies regardless of the amount you owe. We will also scale down properties to disconnect water if we find gates locked,” blared a council official through the loud hailer from a vehicle driving around the city.
Ironically, some of the councillors reconnected water supplies to residents that had been disconnected in the run-up to the July polls to curry favour with them ahead of the vote.
The disconnections had been ordered by the previously MDC-led council.
The provision of water is guaranteed in the new Constitution as a basic human right.
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Section 77 of the Constitution reads: “Every person has the right to safe, clean and potable water and the State must take reasonable legislative and other measures, within the limits of the resources available to it, to achieve the progressive realisation of this right.”
Gwanda mayor Knowledge Ndlovu told a full council meeting a fortnight ago that the majority of the town’s residents had stopped paying their bills, thereby crippling council operations.
The meeting also resolved to introduce prepaid water meters to ensure residents account for every drop of water they consume.
Council was forced to write off a $3,5 million debt it was owed by residents and this has plunged the local authority into a deep financial crisis.
Council has reportedly resolved to dispatch a high powered delegation to Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo to brief him on problems besetting the town.
Workers have gone unpaid for months while garbage collection has been erratic raising fears of an outbreak of waterborne diseases.
