Harare Residents Trust,
THE Harare Residents’ Trust (HRT) has been closely following the debate on the possible introduction of prepaid water meters in Harare. The local authority, with the backing of some international financial institutions have been warming up to the idea, but they have not done enough to ensure the consistent provision of safe, potable and adequate water.
The HRT on its part has held community meetings with residents where there are mixed sentiments on the possible impacts of the prepaid water meters.
According to HRT, the fact that introducing prepaid water meters will resolve the water challenges are far-fetched and unproven.
The City of Harare undertook a Smart Prepaid Water Meters Pilot Project in the Avenues, Bluffhill,
Budiriro, Eastlea, Greendale, Kambuzuma, Sunningdale and Waterfalls. They installed 1 975 prepaid
water meters as follows; Avenues (225), Bluffhill (399), Budiriro (331), Eastlea (184), Greendale
(143), Kambuzuma (69), Sunningdale (324) and Waterfalls (300). The installation of the prepaid
water meters was done in May 2016. Five companies Utility Systems, Syvern Investments,
Hukoshwa, Industrial Chemical and Tricon were contracted to install the prepaid waters during the
pilot project. Reports at the time indicated that some of the contracted companies were linked to
senior government officials and City of Harare bureaucrats who intended to benefit from the
awarding of tenders for the supply of prepaid water meters.
In 2020, the HRT conducted research in Harare’s Sunningdale suburb as a case study to establish the
sentiments of the residents whose properties had prepaid water meters installed. While the majority
of the residents, 83 percent commended the installation of prepaid water meters, they highlighted
that they experienced difficulties in accessing water tokens and council usually told them that the
system was down. Sometimes they had no water yet they would have paid for their water. This
greatly inconvenienced them. In Kambuzuma, residents ended up having the prepaid water meters
removed because they experienced more technical challenges which hindered their access to water.
However, there was consensus from the residents who had the prepaid water meters installed at
their houses that the cost of water significantly reduced, and they could control how much water
they used per month.
The prepaid water project then died without any feedback to the residents and other key
stakeholders on the performance of the different contractors who installed the prepaid water
meters, and how the pilot project had fared. Up to now the City of Harare has not bothered to
provide the necessary feedback to its stakeholders.
What has become very clear from the HRT membership and key stakeholders is that while the idea
of prepaid water meters is appealing to residents who do not have water most of the time, the
availability, accessibility, acceptability and the quality of the water in most other parts of Harare
remains highly contested. The council is supplying water to about 45 percent of the households
connected to the water system with the majority relying on alternatives like community and private
boreholes, shallow wells and unprotected water wells. If at all the council is considering this option
of installing prepaid water meters, then they have to first ensure that they have built their capacity
to supply all the connected households, they have addressed the questions of quality, accessibility
and acceptability of the water they currently deliver to the ratepayers.
The HRT asserts and reiterates its longstanding position that installing prepaid water meters is
simply a simplistic way of generating revenue which is hardly accounted for. It must be noted that in
the past, the City of Harare has undertaken water meters’ replacement project but these initiatives
were discontinued before replacing all the dysfunctional and stuck conventional water meters. Lazy
and incompetent officials are simply looking at their revenue streams without bothering to address
the issue of improving services rendered to the residents. The HRT therefore urges the City of Harare
councillors and bureaucrats to seriously value the input of citizens on public policy before they
pronounce themselves as public institution. Citizen participation remains key to social and economic
development in a democratic society.
Key Recommendations going forward;
1. The City of Harare needs to sort out its billing system to ensure that there is accuracy in
terms of billing for services rendered.
2. Residents expect the council to replace all the dysfunctional water meters and ensure
regular water meter readings before even considering installing prepaid water meters.
3. Undertake intensive but staggered underground water pipe replacement to harness all the
treated water. The council loses 60 percent of treated water through leakages and illegal
connections on the water distribution network.
