Zimpapers Logo

Factmore Dzobo Senior Reporter
FIRST it was pre-paid electricity, now urban residents face the prospects of pre-paid water. Following the successful implementation of the pre-paid electricity project by power utility Zesa, which improved revenue inflows and reduced defaults, local authorities are considering the introduction of pre-paid water meters to deal with defaulting ratepayers.

Environment, Water and Climate Minister Saviour Kasukuwere has thrown his weight behind the proposals by local authorities so as to generate enough revenue to finance the delivery of quality water to their residents.

Cde Kasukuwere said though the move was likely to face stiff resistance, he was prepared to fight the battle and ensure that prepaid water meters are installed.

“We need to make payments. We cannot sustain a situation where services are provided and residents do not pay for them. I think it’s high time when our city fathers ensure that prepaid water meters are installed. You have my full support on that one,” Kasukuwere said.

There is heavy resistance from members of the public to the introduction of pre-paid water meters with human rights organisations arguing that water was a basic right whose supply should not be infringed upon.

Residents and human rights activists want the government to find other means of providing enough water to the people other than the proposed pre-paid water meters.

For many years residents in towns and cities have endured the limited supply of the precious liquid from their water taps with no solution in sight. Service delivery at most local authorities has significantly taken a nose dive with officials blaming it on non-payment for services by residents and ratepayers.

The proposed pre-paid water meters have already seen civic society organisations engaging in demonstrations fearing outbreak of disease should the plan be implemented while women feel the move would be retrogressive of the gains made in gender equality.

Estillia Muchakadzi, a 23-year-old woman from Cowdray Park suburb in Bulawayo said the proposed prepaid water meters were likely to create a health time bomb in poor communities who cannot afford to buy water in advance. She said some people have no other source of income and cannot afford to buy water all the time.

“What the government and local authorities should know is that there is no substitute for water unlike electricity which can be substituted with wood, paraffin or gas stoves for cooking. The government should spare a thought for disadvantaged people who cannot afford to buy water to access free water,” said Muchakadzi.

Women, who primarily manage water in the household, said prepaid water meters would burden them. Generally, it is women who tend to gardening and it is women who have the main responsibility for raising children; hence without water women would have an extra burden to bear.

A member of the Bulawayo Residents Association, Enitah Mhlanga said women encounter different challenges in caring for their children, but in the absence of clean water and adequate sanitation facilities this would pose a serious health hazard.

“We will continue to fight against the installation of pre-paid water meters until the decision is reversed. As the poorer sections of the community, we cannot afford to buy water. Prepaid water meters will be a burden for many women and the rest of the family. This means lack of money to buy water is like risking ourselves to many diseases linked to inadequate water and poor sanitation. It is a set back to mothers because without access to water there is no life,” said Mhlanga carrying anti-prepaid water meters placard recently.

Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza) National Structure development coordinator Magodonga Mahlangu said it would be unrealistic for local authorities to install prepaid water meters as most of them are faced with financial constraints whilst water is a right and a basic need.

“As women, water is our basic need and failure to access it would lead to the outbreak of communicable diseases such as cholera and moreover failure to access water is just a violation of our rights as human beings. We do not want prepaid water meters. It would become difficult for even nursing mothers in terms of their ability to care for and breastfeed their babies who are at a much higher risk of waterborne diseases”, she said.

Provincial Development Officer in the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development, Vaida Mashangwa, said lack of access to water considerably increased the burden of women’s responsibilities.

“It is usually women who are responsible for household cleaning, cooking and washing. All these tasks require water. Women menstruate every month hence they need enough water to bathe and maintain their personal hygiene all the time. Water tariffs should not deter women from accessing the precious liquid. Women use more water in cooking and laundry at household levels, this means denying them enough water worsens their burden,” she said.

Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) chairperson, Elasto Mugwadi noted that denying a person access to water is a fundamental violation of human rights. He noted that one’s failure to pay for water should not deny them access to water.

“It’s a violation of human rights to put prohibitive water tariffs which can affect some poor communities in accessing clean and safe water. Water is a fundamental human right which should be accessible by everyone regardless of being poor. It’s wrong for anyone or local authorities to profiteer on the scarce precious liquid which means life to the people,” said Mugwadi.

He discouraged the notion of commercialising the provision of water to such an extent of making it unaffordable to the majority of the people.

Bulawayo Mayor, Councillor Martin Moyo, vowed that the local authority was going to install prepaid water meters despite the public resistance.

According to recent statistics released by UNICEF a child dies every 15 seconds from water-related diseases, such as diarrhoea, typhoid, cholera and dysentery. In fact, child mortality rates correlate with lack of access to water and sanitation facilities.

In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly declared that access to water and sanitation was a basic human right. The pronouncements were also received by many with joy, particularly women who believed that their own emancipation can only be brought about if afforded access to clean and safe water.

The role of sourcing water also normally falls on women and girls. Hours are taken out of their days collecting water, time that could have been spent earning money, receiving an education, or caring for their children.

In most parts of Southern Africa women are the ‘’water managers’’ for their families. Lack of access to water impacts on women’s several household chores such as in cooking, cleaning, washing, childcare, child-bearing, food production, sanitation needs and education.

Water is a finite and a scarce resource in most parts of the Southern Africa region including Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe’s commitment in the attainment of one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to halve the proportion of people without access to clean water and sanitation by 2015 remains a pipe dream.

Some health experts said the access to clean and safe water and reduction of poverty will remain elusive until the provision of water by both rural and urban local authorities is improved and taken seriously as a basic human right.