Council slashes fines for hosepipe use

News
Bulawayo City Council has been forced to make a downward review of penalties for residents caught using hosepipes for non-industrial watering activities such as moulding bricks, as a handful of offenders were paying the fines.

Bulawayo City Council has been forced to make a downward review of penalties for residents caught using hosepipes for non-industrial watering activities such as moulding bricks, as a handful of offenders were paying the fines.

BY Nqobile Bhebhe

The local authority introduced the fines, ranging from $100 to $1 500 in 2010 at the height of crippling water shortages.

First-time users of hosepipes for non-industrial activity will now be fined $50, second-time offenders $80 and $100 for third-time offenders.

Offenders using domestic water for brick-moulding and domestic water for construction will now be fined $200, $350 and $500 respectively.

Stand alone P3

Council said it had issued about 116 tickets for illegal water connections but only nine offenders had paid.

“From the time when the water-rationing charges were introduced to date, it had been observed that only a few offenders had managed to pay,” a council report indicated, citing an example of the $1 500 penalty, which had since accumulated 116 tickets, with only nine having been cleared.

“One hundred and seven tickets were still outstanding,” read part the council report on future water supplies and water action.

“This situation has been further exacerbated by the current economic situation that the city is facing, which has reduced the available income for an ordinary citizen.”

The current penalties are pegged at $100 for use of hose-pipes for non-industrial activity, $1 000 for use of domestic water for brick moulding and use of domestic water for construction and $1 500 for illegal connections.

However, the local authority is said to have proposed a staggering payment system which takes into consideration the harsh economic environment.