Brian Rungano Temba
Masvingo Residents Forum members were arrested yesterday after staging a 5-person demonstration in front of council offices at the Civic Centre.
They were protesting against what they termed day light robbery in the form of a water bill.
The petition -they sought to deliver to the city fathers- which circulated on online platforms, carried concerns by residents in which they complained that they were receiving the short end of the stick with council charging astronomically for bad service delivery.
The petition was addressed to the Town Clerk with a demand to review the rates that were not justified considering inconsistent garbage collection, water supply and the state of roads in the suburbs.
“There has been a delay in the collection of Garbage as a result of vehicle breakdowns,” said Acting Town Clerk Edward Mukaratirwa who assured the refuse will be collected by the end of the week.
“The roads are being fixed in phases which are funded by Zimbabwe National Revenue Authority (ZINARA) and only upon inspection and approval are they disbursed to council,” he said.
Government declared the state of roads in Zimbabwe a national Disaster in order to facilitate release of funds for maintenance and repair works, but regardless t council continues to hike road levies.
Councillor for Ward 8 in Masvingo Urban, Sengerai Manyanga has asked residents to desist from gathering as they violate lockdown regulations.
“Residents of Masvingo I encourage you to find peaceful methods of parlying with local authorities than staging demonstrations during this Lockdown,” said Cllr Manyanga.
Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) today suspended its proposed 25 percent increase on water tariffs it had marked for March 1, 2021 after stakeholders expressed discontent.
However, ZINWA is not responsible for the supply of treated water and water reticulation in big cities such as Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru, Mutare Masvingo and Chinhoyi which are local authority’s domains.
According to ZINWA Act, ZINWA treats and reticulates water in small towns, growth points where local authorities lack capacity to service.
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