Faith Ndlovu, Sunday News Reporter.
The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has dismissed as false claims doing rounds in the city that it planned to privatise water and sanitation services.
In a statement, the city’s mayor, Councillor David Coltart said instead, as a local authority, they were just establishing an independent water and sanitation utility to efficiently manage these services to the public.
“The proposed Bulawayo Water and Sanitation Public Utility will be 100% owned by the City of Bulawayo as the sole shareholder. This is a public water and sanitation utility which will be overseen by an independent board with public and local authority involvement,” he said.
“The proposed model will be a public utility — where the City of Bulawayo owns the utility’s assets and delegate’s management, operation and maintenance of water and sanitation service delivery to a 100% City of Bulawayo-owned utility,”
The council emphasized that the goal of setting up the water utility is to enhance management while ensuring that water remains a public resource rather than transferring ownership to private companies.
“There are no private individuals or private companies invested in it,” said Clr Coltart.
“The City of Bulawayo will register a utility that is 100% owned by the City. This is not privatisation but a legal safeguard against dilution or hostile takeover. The company shares will not be tradable. The registered entity will not be driven by profit but by the need for efficient and affordable service delivery in water and sanitation,” Clr Coltart explained.
The council also announced plans to conduct ward-based and community stakeholder engagement meetings to share information, discuss, and gather public opinion on the utility model best suited for Bulawayo.
“This will clarify and correct deliberate distortions, misinformation, and falsehoods,” he said.
It refuted allegations linking the Water Utility to prepaid water meters, describing such claims as attempts to instill fear among residents and discourage support for the Water Utility.
The local authority reiterated its commitment to a transparent, sustainable, accountable, and beneficial process in water and sanitation management.
“It is focused on a transparent, sustainable, accountable, and beneficial process in water and sanitation management.”
