Opinion / Columnist
The fall of fixed water charges in Mabvuku
27 Apr 2017 at 14:38hrs | Views
The City of Harare will with effect from 30 April 2017, cancel odious debt on fixed water charges accruing on rights-holders' water accounts for a period spanning July 2013 up to February 2017. The total amount that each household will be credited amounts to US$138-00. This development was announced by Mr Mwaziya at a community meeting organized jointly by Community Water Alliance and Zimrights yesterday 26 April 2017 at Area D Community Hall in Mabvuku.
The long time efforts by Community Water Alliance on debt justice in the water sector had found policy backing through the October 2014 City of Harare Full Council Resolution to write-off fixed water charges for households that have not received water for a period of four consecutive years and more.
Some households in Mabvuku had already been issued with summons and were likely to lose property due to "purported" debt that is not audited and inclusive of the scrapped fixed water charges. The timely intervention of Community Water Alliance para-legal committee helped in entering of an Appearance to Defend and Defendant's Pleas. Zimrights' engagement will help relieve rights-holders who have been issued Assumption of Agency papers by Alec Muchadehama and Partners who is now representing the City of Harare. There are other households in Mufakose, Budiriro, Kambuzuma, Glen-View whose water meters have been removed more than four years ago as "punishment" for non-payment and have also lost private property as a result of ignorance on responding to summons issued by the Local Authority.
Mabvuku residents experience un-availability of potable water with some households enduring water cuts from 1994 to date. Section 77(a) of Constitution Amendment No. 20 accords the citizens of Zimbabwe the human right to water. Zimbabwe is a signatory to General Comment 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which states that every person has a right to accessible, available, acceptable and quality potable water.
Community Water Alliance celebrates the precedence set in Mabvuku and will engage Harare Water to ensure that isolated households in Mufakose, Budiriro, Kambuzuma, Glen-View, Hatcliff and Borrowdale benefit from the exercise. The Alliance implores City of Harare to consider cases where residents lost property through Messenger of Court Writ of Execution of Judgment, especially on households without water for decades and where the US$138.00 fixed water charges contributed to odious debt birthing legal action. Restorative justice should not be ignored.
The long time efforts by Community Water Alliance on debt justice in the water sector had found policy backing through the October 2014 City of Harare Full Council Resolution to write-off fixed water charges for households that have not received water for a period of four consecutive years and more.
Some households in Mabvuku had already been issued with summons and were likely to lose property due to "purported" debt that is not audited and inclusive of the scrapped fixed water charges. The timely intervention of Community Water Alliance para-legal committee helped in entering of an Appearance to Defend and Defendant's Pleas. Zimrights' engagement will help relieve rights-holders who have been issued Assumption of Agency papers by Alec Muchadehama and Partners who is now representing the City of Harare. There are other households in Mufakose, Budiriro, Kambuzuma, Glen-View whose water meters have been removed more than four years ago as "punishment" for non-payment and have also lost private property as a result of ignorance on responding to summons issued by the Local Authority.
Community Water Alliance celebrates the precedence set in Mabvuku and will engage Harare Water to ensure that isolated households in Mufakose, Budiriro, Kambuzuma, Glen-View, Hatcliff and Borrowdale benefit from the exercise. The Alliance implores City of Harare to consider cases where residents lost property through Messenger of Court Writ of Execution of Judgment, especially on households without water for decades and where the US$138.00 fixed water charges contributed to odious debt birthing legal action. Restorative justice should not be ignored.
Source - Goodlife Mudzingwa
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