Gwanda Residents Association media statement on prepaid water meters

The Gwanda Residents Association notes with great concern unprecedented moves by the Municipality of Gwanda to roll out the prepaid water meters project regardless of the resistance from the residents of Gwanda and that of other urban centres throughout country.

The Residents Association is particularly disturbed that council is going ahead with this move despite several requests from the association and other stakeholders for engagement on this matter before implementation  or non implementation of the program.

It is an open matter that the issue of the legality and or constitutionality of the prepaid water meters is a matter certainly bound to be decided in the country's highest court the Constitutional Court and so can not at this stage be implemented as it will be a mere waste of time and resources.

Several urban centres some of a bigger influence than Gwanda, have held huge demonstrations against the moves by their councils to install the prepaid water meters and the councils have since shelved the programs and opened up for dialogue with all stake holders.

Parliamentarians have tabled the matter in the august house for debate and so leaves it evident that the matter is under going serious considerations at different levels.

We are therefore shocked and disturbed as residents of Gwanda how or who our council presumes itself to be to consider itself better positioned and more capable to go on and implement this program in solitude against such odds.

We take this move by our local authority as a direct disregard of the coexistence of council and its stakeholders in the administration and development of the town.

We also view this move as a direct provocation of us as interested parties who have actually gone further and raised concerns to council on the matter and can therefore not take such provocation hands down.

We are aware of the unfortunate survey which council is said to have done amongst the residents to determine if the residents are for or against the meters.

This survey by council was also very unprecedented as it was very fraudulent and inconsiderate for council to put residents through an uninformed decision making process more so on a matter of basic constitutional human right consideration.

It is therefore with regret that we note that council celebrates what they call a majority of residents who opted for the meters on the basis of this fraudulent survey.

Council chooses to ignore an evident fact that when residents claim to favour the prepaid water meters to get rid of the terrible water billings, the residents are in fact sending a no confidence message to council and favouring the prepaid meters simply as a means of getting rid of council more than anything else.

As residents representation we stand by our demands that council comes for an open dialogue with us and other stakeholders on this matter and allow due processes currently underway in the higher offices to go through before they can seriously consider unrolling the program.

We by means of this statement, like to categorically reiterate to council that as the Residents Association and indeed residents, shall not sit back and watch while they engage in this move without due consultation, consideration and consensus from all involved and interested in the matter.

The calmness and willingness to dialogue exhibited by the residents of Gwanda must never be taken as a conclusion that the residents here are any different from those of other centres in the country and so can be manipulated willy nilly and wantonly.

We would like to remind our authorities that we are also equal citizens of this country with rights and privileges as with all other citizens of Zimbabwe and so very capable and ready to resist any moves that infringe on our constitutional rights by any legal moves within our hands to demand to be respected and appreciated as we are accorded rights and services due to us.