The government of Zimbabwe is being accused of blocking devolution while promoting privatisation of water services, a move residents warn could leave poor communities without access to essential resources.
The concerns were raised at a National Residents’ Summit in Bulawayo, hosted by the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA).
BPRA Director Permanent Ngoma said the government’s push for privatisation ran counter to the goals of devolution.
“We feel like when you look at privatisation and when you look at devolution it’s got conflicting goals. One of the major conflicts is that when you are looking at privatisation you are looking at profit maximisation. Whereas devolution is speaking about empowering the communities, empowering the marginalised,” she said.
Ngoma argued that privatisation would make services inaccessible for ordinary citizens.
“If you are going with privatisation, services will be limited to people that can’t afford it. The government is suggesting privatisation and we feel like it’s an interference from the government,” she added.
She also blamed central government for halting the construction of new dams for Bulawayo, noting that before the 1980s the city council regularly built dams to match population growth.
“After the management of water was taken by the government, which is the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA), we saw BCC stopping to build those dams. The population has grown and is not enough to cater for everyone. It is important for local authorities to be given the autonomy to run their own business so that they are able to meet the local needs of the local people in their different local authorities,” Ngoma said.
George Makoni, Director of the Wedza Residents Development Initiative Trust (WERDIT), said devolution remained tightly controlled from Harare.
“Almost everything to do with devolution is centralised in the capital city. We elected provincial councillors in Mashonaland East but these councillors have not yet been called to work and there is no funding for devolution. There is enactment of that law, it only remains in the constitution,” Makoni said.
He called for greater engagement between residents and councils.
“We recommend that there be interface meetings between residents and duty bearers, particularly the council. There is a need to really do a robust education on these issues to do with devolution and water and sanitation and hygiene so that residents can participate from an informed view,” he said.
From Masvingo, Masvingo United and Ratepayers coordinator Anoziva Muguti highlighted the dire state of water supply in the city.
“When it comes to water we get water on average two hours per day, because the water reticulation was designed for a population of about 25,000 people which was in 1974 and it is still the same infrastructure that we are still using. Yet the population has ballooned to more than 120,000. So in terms of capacity the Masvingo City Council is failing to supply enough water to the residents, so it is one of the challenges that we are facing,” said Muguti.
He accused the central government of failing to implement genuine devolution.
“We feel that when it comes to devolution, the central government is shortchanging us. They pretend to be giving us a devolved system of governance, yet in fact it’s still centralised,” Muguti said.
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