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Conrad Gweru Features Correspondent
The growing urban population in most African countries is posing huge challenges for service providers to meet growing demand in services due to inadequate resources.

The current revenue inflows of most service providers fall far short of requirements to fund investments and run services effectively for these rapidly growing populations, calling for innovative approaches in revenue collection.

The advent of prepaid options has therefore unlocked an innovative set of opportunities for various service providers throughout the world.

A number of countries have been considering such innovative approaches in their day to day business.

However, the growing interest in prepaid water meters by local authorities in Zimbabwe has created a rift between councils and some consumers in areas such as Harare, Mutare, Bulawayo and Chipinge.

Some residents feel that prepaid water meters violate the right to water, arguing that Section 77 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe guarantees the right to potable water to all citizens regardless of the level of income and therefore introducing prepaid water meters will violate that right once water is privatised.

“The contextual background of the introduction of water meters is that local authorities have been struggling to meet the cost of water supply as they are owed huge sums of money by residents,” says a local governance expert, who is also director for Civic Forum on Human Development, Mr Absolom Masendeke.

He explained: “To balance, local authorities felt that prepaid water meters will allow them to get money from residents which in turn will enable them to improve service. On the demand side, access to water is a constitutional right making it technically illegal to disconnect someone particularly if there is no alternative source of water. It makes it a humanitarian offence as one will be exposed to risks which in turn have potential to affect the whole community.

“Given the constitutional right scenario, residents, through residents associations, condemn the idea of prepaid water meters as they view access to water as a constitutional right which the State should provide. In our context, we also have a number of vulnerable poor who are not able to pay, making prepaid water meters unrealistic in our context.”

Mr Simbarashe Moyo, chairperson of Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA), and the recently launched Harare Metropolitan Residents Forum (HAMREF), pointed out that prepaid water metering system is a technology that the local authorities intend to introduce at the wrong time.

He pointed out that prepaid water meters are not a solution to the water situation as they will not address structural, management problems and corrupt tendencies in local authorities, all of which are at the root of the current water crisis.

“Indeed, the prepaid water meter is a new technology that many local authorities in Zimbabwe believe will boost revenue collection and put an end to the non-payment by residents,” said Mr Moyo.

“It’s viewed as a wonder drug to the challenges related to the provision of water. CHRA has carried out a number of studies on PPWM and we discovered that it’s going to cost around $300 to have the PPWM for each household that will be connected and it’s the resident who will bear this cost as most local authorities are broke at the moment.

“The PPWM will use rechargeable batteries that need electricity to recharge and with the power challenges we are having as a country it’s everyone’s guess how these gadgets will work without electricity. Installation of PPWM will not mean availability of water, so what’s the point of installing these meters when the local authorities are failing to provide water efficiently to the residents 24/ 7?”

He regretted that there was “a mad rush” to implement the prepaid system which may be driven by “tenderpreneurs who stand to benefit immensely from the supply of PPWM”.

Clarice Madhuku, a local governance activist, fears that the debate may be politicised.

She said: “I think the debate on prepaid water meters has taken a new twist. While residents are raising issues that need government to address, there are politicians who are also looking for relevance by just supporting what residents are saying without taking the next step of engaging Government and local authorities to come up with a better solution to the water crisis in Zimbabwe.”

Reuben Musiiwa, a resident in Mabvuku, pointed out that residents are not against the idea of prepaid water meters.

“We are not against this idea of prepaid water meters but we are against corruption that has led to poor service delivery. In my little knowledge, I do not think that the system will work in Zimbabwe. We all know that ZESA has failed to deliver even after they introduced prepaid electricity meters. Our local authorities are corrupt in terms of their tendering process, they collect revenue and instead of improving service, they buy expensive cars and give themselves huge salaries while rate payers get nothing.

“This prepayment idea will only make sure that they get the money but I doubt if it will be put to good use. What is ideal therefore is to restructure and improve the day to day management first. We need to be confident of our local authorities before they introduce such a system.”

But the issue of prepaid water meters goes beyond socio-economic status of the consumers, experts argue.

Glenn Pearce-Oroz, Principal Regional Team Leader for Africa Water and Sanitation Programme, says: “Perhaps most powerful of all is the message that prepaid water is ultimately a technology: it is not intrinsically pro- or anti-poor, and it is not a substitute for sound management.”

Mayor of Harare Mr Bernard Manyenyeni says prepaid meters will aid efficiency and revenue collection.

He told The Herald: “We think this will be a more efficient way of collecting and assuring ourselves of revenue, and when we get that revenue we will use it to upgrade and maintain our water supply infrastructure.”

He added: “The issue (of prepaid water metres) has been blown out of proportion. At this stage we are still consulting and that will then lead to a pilot project. In the next month or so, we will be able to give feedback to residents. Issues of concern are on how we protect residents from total lack of water and how do we recover costs. Unfortunately, those people (residents associations) have already taken their position, they do not want prepaid water meters and nothing has changed as far as we are concerned.”

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