The Sunday News
Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday News Reporter
THE Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) is owed $2,4billion by different clients, with Government institutions and local authorities accounting for 66 percent of that figure.
Presenting a Ministerial statement on the disconnection of water supplies to defaulting customers in the National Assembly on Tuesday, Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement, Dr Anxious Masuka said Zinwa had recently closed the taps, in all provinces, on eight ministries.
Those affected are the ministries of Defence and War Veterans Affairs, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Local Government and Public Works, Transport and Infrastructural Development, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Resettlement, Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare and Higher and Tertiary Education.
Water had also been disconnected from Gwanda and Beitbridge town councils while institutions such as Zimparks and National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) have also been affected after defaulting on payments.
Minister Masuka said the Ministers in charge of those portfolios had been advised of the pending disconnections before they occurred.
Water services had been restored at the various institutions after payments were submitted over the last week.
“Madam Speaker, as the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement, I wrote individually, to all Ministers on 21 July 2021 and I have the list of the copies of the letters. Minister July Moyo, $31 million. Minister Kazembe, $210 million, Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri, $363 million, Minister O. Ncube, $2 million, Minister Prof. Murwira has paid $3.7 million, $6.8 million Minister Prof. Mavima, Minister Ziyambi, $142 million, Minister Coventry, $4.8 million, Minister Mhona, $9. 5 million and the Minister of Health and Child Care, $192 milion. I personally, wrote letters to the Ministers to inform them of these impending inconveniences, should they not settle these debts…However, many did not respond to these notices and Zinwa had to take the painful decision to disconnect supplies,” he said.
Minister Masuka also revealed that the Office of the President and Cabinet, the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services, the Ministry of Health and Child Care and TelOne were some of the institutions that responded positively.
Minister Masuka also revealed that Gwanda and Beitbridge Town councils accounted for 80 percent of the debt owed by local authorities.
“Beitbridge and Gwanda owe Zinwa $407million out of the total ZW$507 million owed by all the 92 municipalities in the country. These two owe 80 percent of the Zinwa debt for local authorities and I have the detail of the debt for these two.
“…Beitbridge made a single payment of $14.8 million in June 2020, the only payment it made between January and July 2021, leading to a cumulative debt of ZW$198.3 million. For Gwanda, the debt accumulated from ZW$ 16 million in January 2020 to $181 million in July 2021. The only major payment by Gwanda was a set off of a stand they gave to Zinwa valued at $12 million in October 2020. Otherwise, payments are about $2 million monthly and very inadequate for the services that they are provided,” he said.
