News / National
No water from the tap. They're asked to pay a tax anyway
02 Jul 2025 at 10:03hrs | Views
Violet Razau fetches water from a makeshift well outside her home in Mabvuku, a suburb east of Harare, Zimbabwe.. - Photo by Linda Mujuru, GPJ Zimbabwe
HARARE, ZIMBABWE - The cholera outbreak that swept through Zimbabwe in 2008-2009 killed more than 4,000 people and sickened nearly 100,000. Parts of Harare and its surrounding suburbs were especially hard hit, and in the aftermath, attention fell on the unreliability of the capital city's aging infrastructure. The government ultimately secured a US$144 million loan from China Exim Bank to overhaul the city's water treatment network.
The promised upgrades never came, but now, the city wants ratepayers to foot the bill with a water levy introduced in March.
The loaned funds were supposed to upgrade water treatment plants, and pump stations, and roll out prepaid meters for 500,000 households.
Now, almost two decades later, citizens are being asked to repay a loan they say brought them no benefit.
"If the water situation had improved, maybe it would make sense," says Prudence Hanyani, who was born and raised in Mabvuku, a suburb of the capital city that falls in its service area. "We never saw infrastructure development or better services. So what exactly are we paying for?"
Harare's daily water production has steadily declined over the years due to a mix of deferred maintenance, contamination, and leaky pipes and valves in the distribution network, according to a 2015 World Bank report. In 2005, the city produced approximately 600 megaliters each day - that's 600 million liters, or 158.5 million gallons, enough to fill 240 Olympic-size swimming pools. By 2008, daily output dropped to around 400 megaliters, then fluctuated between 400 and 600 megaliters over the next few years. However, by February this year, the supply had fallen further to just 350 megaliters per day.
Harare needs more than three times that amount, some 1,200 megaliters per day (317 million gallons), to meet the needs of residents and businesses, says Hardlife Mudzingwa, director of the advocacy group Community Water Alliance.
"What was a government responsibility is now being offloaded onto ordinary households already grappling with economic hardship," says Mudzingwa, who has petitioned the government to account for how the money was used.
Taps in Mabvuku ran dry around the year 2000, Hanyani says, and residents haven't had running water since. With six children to care for, she now spends up to US$3 a day to buy water for drinking, cooking, cleaning and sanitation, an added burden in a country where the average monthly household income fell to just US$88 in 2024. Now an additional water levy of US$1 is expected from her each month.
Prudence Hanyani collects water from a disused chicken brooder where she stores her household supply. Hanyani, who has lived without running water for over two decades, now faces a new government-imposed water levy tied to a failed Chinese loan project that promised but never delivered improved infrastructure.- Photo by Linda Mujuru, GPJ Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe's infrastructure funding gap is huge.
The country needs an estimated US$2 billion annually until 2032, of which the government can only fund about 20%. Key projects, such as the Harare water and sewer upgrade and major dam developments, have been financed through loans, particularly from China Exim Bank. But many of these projects, including the Harare upgrade, stalled after loan disbursements were suspended due to contract breaches.
Zimbabwe turned to China for loans in the early 2000s primarily due to limited access to more established financing sources, following years of economic sanctions, political isolation and a deteriorating credit rating. China emerged as a willing lender, offering infrastructure loans and investments under its Belt and Road initiative and Zimbabwe's Look East policy. However, the country has faced challenges in repaying these loans, leading to significant arrears.
In 2018, China Exim Bank provided a US$153 million government concessional loan for the expansion of the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport. While the project aimed to increase the airport's capacity from 2.5 million to 6 million passengers annually, it was hampered by delays and financial mismanagement. By the end of 2021, Zimbabwe had accumulated $3 million in arrears on the loan.
Similarly, the Victoria Falls Airport Renovation and Expansion Project relied on a US$149.9 million loan, issued in 2012. The project was completed in 2016, but Zimbabwe's arrears still ballooned to US$54 million by the end of 2021.
The Chinese water and sewer loan came at a time when various partners were funding infrastructure upgrades in the sector, Mudzingwa says. Following the 2008 cholera outbreak, international development partners including the United Nations Children's Fund, the African Development Bank and the World Bank stepped in with additional support. In Harare, much of that funding was frittered away as the city failed to consult with residents in project planning or install systems to track revenue, manage budgets and detect fraud and waste. As a result, there has never been clarity on how exactly the money was used, even as millions of Zimbabweans have been left without access to safe, reliable water.
The China Exim Bank water loan had an 11-year repayment term with a four-year grace period and variable interest set at roughly 3.5%.
Although the project officially began in 2013, progress quickly stalled when Zimbabwe's failure to repay an earlier loan prompted the bank to freeze disbursements. The earlier loan was for planned renovations to the dormant state-owned steel enterprise Ziscosteel, which were never completed. Harare City Council spent US$8 million from the water treatment loan on 25 luxury vehicles. The council claimed the cars were necessary for service delivery, but the lender disagreed. By 2017, only half the loan had been released, and disbursements remained frozen through 2020.
As of 2021, the Harare water project alone accounted for nearly US$67 million in unpaid debt. Across its portfolio, Zimbabwe owed China Exim Bank more than US$260 million in arrears spanning numerous sectors, from telecommunications to airports to defense.
"We are the ones drinking water," says Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume. "Surely if Harare residents are drinking the water, they should pay for it themselves instead of asking the tax dollar of some Chipinge resident busy chasing a big frog."
Ward 16 councillor Denford Ngadziore is calling for an audit. "If there are people who misused the money, they should be prosecuted. I presented this solution in the full council meeting, but other councilors disagreed with me," he says. "We cannot make residents pay the loan without a clear report on how the loan was used."
Violet Razau carries a bucket of water to her home in Mabvuku. Like many residents in this suburb of Harare, she has relied on makeshift sources for years. Despite having received no benefit from a long-stalled water project funded by a Chinese loan, residents are now expected to repay it through monthly levies.
Mafume insists that everything was done above board, arguing that the Land Rover Defenders and Amarok pickup trucks purchased for the project were not, in fact, luxury vehicles and that the utility has been hampered by its inability to purchase water treatment chemicals, which cost some US$3 million a month, according to the mayor's office. "By and large, the equipment that was bought is there for anyone to go and see. And the good thing is that the new pumps and the old pumps, you can see the difference in performance," he says. "Look at the old pumps, they look like they can explode at any time. So the work that the Chinese did on the plant speaks for itself."
Mudzingwa argues that the loan acquisition process itself was flawed because a section of Zimbabwe's 2013 Constitution says that any international treaty signed or carried out by the president or on the president's behalf is not legally binding unless it is first approved by Parliament.
He says the provision reinforces the principle of legislative oversight in the treaty-making process. "The agreement was ratified by council in December 2013, but by then, the money had already been spent. Ratification should have come first," he says.
"Look at the old pumps, they look like they can explode at any time."Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume
Mudzingwa also disputes the mayor's contention that promised equipment upgrades were made. "There's no visible infrastructure to justify the cost. Now, residents are being asked to pay for a loan they didn't benefit from. That's unfair," he says.
Mudzingwa worries the levy sets a precedent for ordinary citizens to foot the bill for loan projects characterized by improper procedure, opaque spending and unaccountable leadership.
Zimbabwe's experience mirrors similar challenges seen in other countries reliant on Chinese infrastructure financing. Zambia canceled US$1.6 billion in undisbursed Chinese loans in 2022 amid a mounting debt crisis, while Sri Lanka was forced to award a Chinese company a 99-year lease on a newly-built port after defaulting on construction loans China had provided.
Back in Mabvuku, the water struggle remains deeply personal.
Violet Razau, a hairdresser and mother of two, has lived in the area since 1998. "As a child, I watered our garden with a hose. My 13-year-old son has never seen that. Now, I don't even get a drop from council taps, so why should I pay?"
For Hanyani's 70-year-old mother, Precious Mudimu, age has made the crisis harder. "I can't carry water buckets. I rely on others, but they're not always around. I'm old, I can't work to pay levies," she says. "This place feels like a desert."
Linda Mujuru is a Reporter-in-Residence based in Harare, Zimbabwe. A renowned international reporter and public speaker, she has spent nearly a decade covering human rights, the mining sector, the economy and public health. She holds an MBA from Midlands State University and both master's and bachelor's degrees in Journalism and Media Studies from the National University of Science and Technology in Zimbabwe. Linda is one of Global Press' most widely read and syndicated journalists. In 2023, she won the Community Champion Award from the Institute for Nonprofit News for her story "Push for Gold Leaves a Toxic Legacy."
The promised upgrades never came, but now, the city wants ratepayers to foot the bill with a water levy introduced in March.
The loaned funds were supposed to upgrade water treatment plants, and pump stations, and roll out prepaid meters for 500,000 households.
Now, almost two decades later, citizens are being asked to repay a loan they say brought them no benefit.
"If the water situation had improved, maybe it would make sense," says Prudence Hanyani, who was born and raised in Mabvuku, a suburb of the capital city that falls in its service area. "We never saw infrastructure development or better services. So what exactly are we paying for?"
Harare's daily water production has steadily declined over the years due to a mix of deferred maintenance, contamination, and leaky pipes and valves in the distribution network, according to a 2015 World Bank report. In 2005, the city produced approximately 600 megaliters each day - that's 600 million liters, or 158.5 million gallons, enough to fill 240 Olympic-size swimming pools. By 2008, daily output dropped to around 400 megaliters, then fluctuated between 400 and 600 megaliters over the next few years. However, by February this year, the supply had fallen further to just 350 megaliters per day.
Harare needs more than three times that amount, some 1,200 megaliters per day (317 million gallons), to meet the needs of residents and businesses, says Hardlife Mudzingwa, director of the advocacy group Community Water Alliance.
"What was a government responsibility is now being offloaded onto ordinary households already grappling with economic hardship," says Mudzingwa, who has petitioned the government to account for how the money was used.
Taps in Mabvuku ran dry around the year 2000, Hanyani says, and residents haven't had running water since. With six children to care for, she now spends up to US$3 a day to buy water for drinking, cooking, cleaning and sanitation, an added burden in a country where the average monthly household income fell to just US$88 in 2024. Now an additional water levy of US$1 is expected from her each month.
Prudence Hanyani collects water from a disused chicken brooder where she stores her household supply. Hanyani, who has lived without running water for over two decades, now faces a new government-imposed water levy tied to a failed Chinese loan project that promised but never delivered improved infrastructure.- Photo by Linda Mujuru, GPJ Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe's infrastructure funding gap is huge.
The country needs an estimated US$2 billion annually until 2032, of which the government can only fund about 20%. Key projects, such as the Harare water and sewer upgrade and major dam developments, have been financed through loans, particularly from China Exim Bank. But many of these projects, including the Harare upgrade, stalled after loan disbursements were suspended due to contract breaches.
Zimbabwe turned to China for loans in the early 2000s primarily due to limited access to more established financing sources, following years of economic sanctions, political isolation and a deteriorating credit rating. China emerged as a willing lender, offering infrastructure loans and investments under its Belt and Road initiative and Zimbabwe's Look East policy. However, the country has faced challenges in repaying these loans, leading to significant arrears.
In 2018, China Exim Bank provided a US$153 million government concessional loan for the expansion of the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport. While the project aimed to increase the airport's capacity from 2.5 million to 6 million passengers annually, it was hampered by delays and financial mismanagement. By the end of 2021, Zimbabwe had accumulated $3 million in arrears on the loan.
Similarly, the Victoria Falls Airport Renovation and Expansion Project relied on a US$149.9 million loan, issued in 2012. The project was completed in 2016, but Zimbabwe's arrears still ballooned to US$54 million by the end of 2021.
The Chinese water and sewer loan came at a time when various partners were funding infrastructure upgrades in the sector, Mudzingwa says. Following the 2008 cholera outbreak, international development partners including the United Nations Children's Fund, the African Development Bank and the World Bank stepped in with additional support. In Harare, much of that funding was frittered away as the city failed to consult with residents in project planning or install systems to track revenue, manage budgets and detect fraud and waste. As a result, there has never been clarity on how exactly the money was used, even as millions of Zimbabweans have been left without access to safe, reliable water.
The China Exim Bank water loan had an 11-year repayment term with a four-year grace period and variable interest set at roughly 3.5%.
Although the project officially began in 2013, progress quickly stalled when Zimbabwe's failure to repay an earlier loan prompted the bank to freeze disbursements. The earlier loan was for planned renovations to the dormant state-owned steel enterprise Ziscosteel, which were never completed. Harare City Council spent US$8 million from the water treatment loan on 25 luxury vehicles. The council claimed the cars were necessary for service delivery, but the lender disagreed. By 2017, only half the loan had been released, and disbursements remained frozen through 2020.
As of 2021, the Harare water project alone accounted for nearly US$67 million in unpaid debt. Across its portfolio, Zimbabwe owed China Exim Bank more than US$260 million in arrears spanning numerous sectors, from telecommunications to airports to defense.
"We are the ones drinking water," says Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume. "Surely if Harare residents are drinking the water, they should pay for it themselves instead of asking the tax dollar of some Chipinge resident busy chasing a big frog."
Ward 16 councillor Denford Ngadziore is calling for an audit. "If there are people who misused the money, they should be prosecuted. I presented this solution in the full council meeting, but other councilors disagreed with me," he says. "We cannot make residents pay the loan without a clear report on how the loan was used."
Violet Razau carries a bucket of water to her home in Mabvuku. Like many residents in this suburb of Harare, she has relied on makeshift sources for years. Despite having received no benefit from a long-stalled water project funded by a Chinese loan, residents are now expected to repay it through monthly levies.
Mafume insists that everything was done above board, arguing that the Land Rover Defenders and Amarok pickup trucks purchased for the project were not, in fact, luxury vehicles and that the utility has been hampered by its inability to purchase water treatment chemicals, which cost some US$3 million a month, according to the mayor's office. "By and large, the equipment that was bought is there for anyone to go and see. And the good thing is that the new pumps and the old pumps, you can see the difference in performance," he says. "Look at the old pumps, they look like they can explode at any time. So the work that the Chinese did on the plant speaks for itself."
Mudzingwa argues that the loan acquisition process itself was flawed because a section of Zimbabwe's 2013 Constitution says that any international treaty signed or carried out by the president or on the president's behalf is not legally binding unless it is first approved by Parliament.
He says the provision reinforces the principle of legislative oversight in the treaty-making process. "The agreement was ratified by council in December 2013, but by then, the money had already been spent. Ratification should have come first," he says.
"Look at the old pumps, they look like they can explode at any time."Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume
Mudzingwa also disputes the mayor's contention that promised equipment upgrades were made. "There's no visible infrastructure to justify the cost. Now, residents are being asked to pay for a loan they didn't benefit from. That's unfair," he says.
Mudzingwa worries the levy sets a precedent for ordinary citizens to foot the bill for loan projects characterized by improper procedure, opaque spending and unaccountable leadership.
Zimbabwe's experience mirrors similar challenges seen in other countries reliant on Chinese infrastructure financing. Zambia canceled US$1.6 billion in undisbursed Chinese loans in 2022 amid a mounting debt crisis, while Sri Lanka was forced to award a Chinese company a 99-year lease on a newly-built port after defaulting on construction loans China had provided.
Back in Mabvuku, the water struggle remains deeply personal.
Violet Razau, a hairdresser and mother of two, has lived in the area since 1998. "As a child, I watered our garden with a hose. My 13-year-old son has never seen that. Now, I don't even get a drop from council taps, so why should I pay?"
For Hanyani's 70-year-old mother, Precious Mudimu, age has made the crisis harder. "I can't carry water buckets. I rely on others, but they're not always around. I'm old, I can't work to pay levies," she says. "This place feels like a desert."
Linda Mujuru is a Reporter-in-Residence based in Harare, Zimbabwe. A renowned international reporter and public speaker, she has spent nearly a decade covering human rights, the mining sector, the economy and public health. She holds an MBA from Midlands State University and both master's and bachelor's degrees in Journalism and Media Studies from the National University of Science and Technology in Zimbabwe. Linda is one of Global Press' most widely read and syndicated journalists. In 2023, she won the Community Champion Award from the Institute for Nonprofit News for her story "Push for Gold Leaves a Toxic Legacy."
Source - globalpressjournal.com
