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Fidelis Munyoro Chief Court Reporter
Sixty-three New Tafara families have petitioned Harare City Council demanding regular water supply and return of better services after going for more than a decade without piped water. The City of Harare has been under MDC-T councils since the turn of the millennium. In the event that their plight is not resolved urgently, the families said they would approach the High Court with a class action against the council and the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing.

The petition has signatures of 63 residents, most of whom are senior citizens, from the high density suburb.

This comes at a time Harare is battling to control the typhoid outbreak which has claimed two lives leaving several hospitalised. In their petition, the residents said they have had no piped water for more than 10 years and the local authority administration at Tafara was aware of their plight.

“Despite that knowledge, the City of Harare continues billing us on water that we never consumed,” read the petition dated January 9, 2017.

“We believe there is a contract between the council and its residents whereby council provides water and in turn we pay for the water consumed.”

The residents, who have accumulated huge debts as a result of water bills, which they have never consumed, also want the council to recalculate their bills.

“Social justice demands that we pay for what we consume,” the residents said.

“We give notice that if our prayer to have bills recalculated is not done, our intention is to proceed to court on a class action against yourselves and the ministry concerned.”

Harare acting town clerk Mrs Josephine Ncube on Thursday confirmed receiving the petition.

“I received the petition and currently I am waiting for information on the issues raised in the petition so that we can respond,” said Mrs Ncube.

“We want factual information on the ground to see if what these families are saying is factual because there is a lot of improvement in the water supply in Mabvuku and Tafara since 2009.”

Water and sanitation are explicitly recognised as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life.

Two deaths and over 150 suspected cases of typhoid were reported in Harare recently.

Government responded by setting up a ministerial task force to spearhead efforts to contain the outbreak.

Residents blame erratic water supply and poor sanitation for the spread of the water-borne disease.

The cases are largely from high density areas in which council has failed to provide basic services.