Bulawayo residents could face higher water bills and barriers to accessing municipal supplies under privatisation arrangements, with low-income households likely to be hardest hit, according to a policy analysis by water rights advocate Khumbulani Maphosa.
The analysis, titled Unmasking the Fallacy of Neoliberal Water Privatisation Promise, draws lessons from water privatisation experiences across Africa and examines the potential implications for Zimbabwe following the government’s January 2025 directive introducing private contractors into urban water systems.
During a meeting convened by the Our Water Our Rights Coalition last Wednesday to mark Africa Water Week of Action, activists from across Africa shared challenges associated with privatised water services, including rising tariffs, unreliable supplies, and barriers to obtaining municipal connections.
In Guinea, high connection fees reportedly excluded low-income households from formal water services. In Niger, some residents who could not afford municipal supplies turned to informal vendors, paying between four and 10 times the standard rate.
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In Côte d’Ivoire, poor families in underserved neighbourhoods were reportedly forced to buy water from informal resellers at prices 10 to 20 times higher per unit.
Activists also raised concerns about private operators failing to deliver promised infrastructure investment and the lack of accountability.
In Tanzania, the private operator City Water reportedly failed to provide US$8.5 million in promised capital investment. In Ghana, a private water management arrangement failed to reduce non-revenue water losses, which remained above 50% throughout the contract period.
In his analysis, Maphosa warned that prepaid meters and automated billing systems could lead to water disconnections for households unable to make regular payments, particularly in low-income communities.
“The rollout of prepaid and smart technology by contractors like Helcraw is packaged as a tool for billing accuracy. Experiences in Senegal and South Africa show how such systems can facilitate automated disconnections when prepaid balances run out,” Maphosa noted.
He also raised concerns about billing accuracy in areas where water distribution networks are deteriorating.
“Residents may potentially be charged for air passing through empty pipes where distribution networks are degraded, rather than for water actually consumed. There is also the issue of high connection and registration fees that could further exclude poor households from municipal supplies, forcing them to rely on informal water vendors who charge significantly higher prices.
“As seen in Côte d’Ivoire and Niger, the poorest families are driven to informal water resellers, paying a premium 4 to 20 times higher per unit than connected, wealthy households.”
Maphosa said Bulawayo should strengthen the management of public water infrastructure, invest in municipal engineering capacity and address water losses through transparent maintenance programmes rather than penalising consumers.
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