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Oliver Kazunga Senior Reporter
THE Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) has started disconnecting water supplies to defaulters in a bid to recover a cumulative $100 million it is owed for water rights and supplies.

In August 2013, the authority wrote-off debts to the tune of $55 million in line with the government’s directive for the parastatal and councils to write-off debts.

Zinwa spokesperson Marjorie Munyonga told The Chronicle at the just ended Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) that the authority, which also supplies water to farms and mines was disconnecting defaulters.

“We’re owed in excess of $100 million since 2009 and we’re engaging some of our debtors to pay their debts.

“We’ve also engaged debt collectors and we’re in discussions especially with local authorities to see if they can offset their debts by other means and on the government debt we’re also trying to do some set off,” said Munyonga.

“Zinwa is also disconnecting water after defaulters fail to honour payment agreements.”

She said Zinwa has also entered into stop-order agreements with farming communities, especially those involved in irrigation activities.

The authority owns more than 1,000 dams throughout the country and it supplies water to some small towns.

The non-payment of water bills, Munyonga said was significantly crippling the authority’s operations as it was failing to invest in water infrastructure as a result.

“It has affected our operations in a very big way as we’re struggling to invest in water infrastructure and also to meet our statutory and operational obligations as the workers have gone for months without salaries,” she said.

Last December, Zinwa did not renew contracts for all its 120 contract workers as it sought to cut costs.

“We also need money for repairing and upgrading our infrastructure to meet demand but if people aren’t paying we’ll not be able to meet demand in the areas that we supply water for example, in small towns where we supply clean water,” she said.