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Richard Muponde Gwanda Correspondent
GWANDA Town Council has shelved plans to install compulsory prepaid water meters saying they would only be installed at premises where owners were willing to have them, similar to a stance taken by the Bulawayo City Council.

The town’s climb-down comes after Harare municipality announced that it was postponing the project for the next four months while Bulawayo City Council said pre-paid meter installation would be voluntary.

Gwanda town’s mayor, Councillor Knowledge Ndlovu, confirmed the latest development.

“We’re no longer going to force people to install the meters. It’s no longer compulsory. Remember these are our own people. We’ve not sat as council on the way forward but we’re likely to take the same route as Bulawayo where we’re going to do it on a voluntary basis,” said Clr Ndlovu.

He said some residents had approached the council with the intention of having their houses installed with the prepaid water meters.

“It’s now on willing takers. Those who want the old ones it’s fine too. The difference is the same,” said the mayor.

Initially, the local authority argued that the prepaid meters project was going to improve revenue inflows into the local authority’s coffers. The council is owed about $8 million by residents.

Gwanda residents’ associations were opposed to the installation of the pre-paid water meters in the town.

“The Bulawayo and Harare victories have come in handy to motivate even those of us who had previously bowed to undue political pressure and threats and chickened out to the cries of our people,” said Gwanda Residents Association in a statement.

“As residents of Gwanda we’re fully aware of the challenges ahead of us that we’re the focus of the whole nation. Defeat on us is defeat for the entire nation and we shall not under any circumstances allow us to be the sacrificial lamb for the whole country.”