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by the City of Harare in its delayed 2011 budget. Our Assistant Chief Sub Editor, Arthur Choga (AC) speaks to Minister Ignatius Chombo (IC) on his decision, his relationship with Harare Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda and his deputy Sessel Zvidzai and the allegations of corruption and favouritism that have been levelled against him. We also discover his unlikely ally in the fight against corruption.
AC: What is the rationale of reducing water tariffs?
IC: As Minister of Local Government, I am obliged to intervene to protect the residents where a local authority is not acting in the public interest.
As you are aware, the Government has established a committee under the chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara to investigate cost drivers hindering economic recovery and development in parastatals and, local authorities. I am obligated to ensure that the charges levied by Councils do not contribute to the upward movement of inflation.
Water is a basic commodity, both in industrial processes and for domestic use; and profiteering from water is tantamount to denying a person a basic human right to the extent that some vulnerable members of the community may not afford extortionate rates.
Harare City Council had significantly raised water tariffs in the 2011 budget without any credible justification. I undertook consultations with my colleague, the Minister of Water Resources Management and Development, Mr Sipepa Nkomo, and calculations were made by his technical staff and, these figures became the basis of my intervention.
We have allowed for an affordable fixed charge and a lower charge for the first twenty cubic meters of water used, which is the amount the average family would need as a basic lifeline. We have also allowed for appropriate industrial and commercial charges in a bid to facilitate economic growth and job creation. We have not hindered the City Council from charging a high rate to extravagant or reckless users. We have tried to ensure that those residents who do not receive water from their taps do not receive high bills for fixed charges, as is the current set-up.
AC: There have been claims that the tariffs set by you, are sub-economic.
IC: It is my view that if the City would focus on regular and correct billing and timeous response to burst pipes and, if bills are acceptable, then the residents will be more likely to pay. Please note, timely interventions to leakages would create savings. I cannot support the concept of residents bearing the cost of poor water management.
Furthermore, the City of Harare enjoyed US$17,5m worth of improvements to its water services through Government and, it has received donations of chemicals from Unicef. The effect of these donations should be felt by water consumers through lower tariffs or improved service, not increased tariffs.
AC: Councils have complained that they are owed large amounts and this has resulted in the need to increase charges? What is your reaction to this?
IC: I have heard this claim and have probed that matter. My findings are that much of the so-called arrears have resulted from the switch over from the local currency to the US dollar. Many local authorities and parastatals tried to carry over balances by converting amounts using unofficial exchange rates.
I do not need to remind anyone that every Zimbabwean lost their Zimbabwean dollars in the transition and one wonders why the local authorities want to be exceptions. The amounts resulting from this action have caused a resistance among aggrieved ratepayers.
The situation has been exacerbated because many councils have not been communicating with their rate payers; no feed back meetings by councillors; no sympathetic system for submitting grievances regarding accounts; and, no facilities for negotiating a payment plan for arrears and so a stale mate has been reached.
Councils would be better off if they engaged with their clients instead of persecuting them. I would like to take this opportunity to deplore the use of water as a weapon in Councils’ debt recovery arsenal.
It is not morally acceptable to deprive a family of water for the non-payment of other service charges but in the same breath, I want to remind water users that they are obliged to pay for the services they receive. We have directed local authorities to ring-fence water revenues to secure supplies and prioritise this basic service. This has been necessary because councils were using water revenues for other unrelated uses.
AC: And health tariffs?
IC: We also felt the need to act on health tariffs. The State has given some assistance to the city through the Social Dimension Fund to support Council to take care of vulnerable groups. By raising entry point tariffs, Council is denying basic health services to the poorest and yet, these people are part owners of the entity the councils are charging from.
We are not saying they should access services for free, but we are saying basic consultation for a child should not exceed US$2, and for an adult US$5. Major hospitals are charging reasonable rates. There are private hospitals catering for those who can afford it. The question I asked myself was why should the entry-level services be among the most expensive? In addition, our Deputy Prime Mister Thokozani Khupe has often advocated for free maternity services, as giving birth is a national duty. As an obedient and consciencious minister, I have taken the hint and directed that it is not proper to charge high fees to mothers-to-be. Health service cannot be run like an income-generating project. The city should know it is actually more expensive to let people die.
AC: And other charges?
IC: We have also acted on burial charges at the Granville cemetery. This is the place where our lowest income earners are buried. Now picture this: Council, by its high tariffs would deny me water, as a result I fall ill; I fail to access health care; I die; and then, the tariffs deny me a decent burial space. Come on, we are a community, and we deserve to give each other a modicum of respect.
AC: Harare Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda has labelled the GNU insensitive to the real costs of providing services implying that you and your Cabinet colleagues are playing to the gallery because elections are on the horizon. What is your comment?
IC: Mayor Masunda is entitled to his opinion and to express it. We’ve freedom of speech in this country. This, however, does not prevent him from being wrong like in this particular case.
I have already alluded to the Committee headed by DPM Mutambara to find ways of reducing costs and thereby, cutting inflation, so the economy can recover. We want the City of Harare to be a good enabler of business and not a hindrance to entrepreneurial initiatives. Once basic service charges go up, everything else goes up, and we become disablers of business. We are looking to local authorities to create an environment that allows industry to develop, create jobs and move the national economy forward, and raising tariffs precludes usage and is not the way to go.
As to this being an election gimmick, I would simply point out that in other years, including 2007 and 2009 we intervened on the issue of the tariffs and there were no elections on the horizon then. This intervention is the same as all others -s it’s done to protect the general public.
AC: Have you tried to explain the difference between service delivery and income generation?
IC: Again and again, we have tried as a Ministry to explain this. In the last 30 months we have had meetings and workshops – more than in any other period since Independence. Initially we tried to give councillors the benefit of the doubt as they were mostly new and green, but it seems some of them are incapable of appreciating their mandate. I have a duty to remove councillors who have ignored training and abused the trust of the residents to loot from the very people who elected them to serve.
The role of a councillor is to fight for good, appropriate and affordable services. They are doing the exact opposite. They seem hell bent on increasing tariffs, punishing the people who elected them into office, instead of rewarding them by giving them good service. I am saddened to say that it seems some councillors are more concerned with personal gains than delivering service to the people. This is unacceptable.
AC: Why did you announce the new tariffs now, and not in December?
IC: We hadn’t received the City of Harare’s budget, so we had no idea what was in it. We only made this announcement at the time we did after we received the budget. My deputy went to speak to local authorities in November and, warn them about the impending deadlines. We went past the deadline. Councillors were said to be on vacation in December when the budget was due and we went into the New Year without a budget. Smaller councils like Mudzi and Gokwe met the deadline, but the capital city is operating without a budget three months into the year. Quite unfortunate!
AC: When are the new rates going to be gazetted?
IC: The budget should be gazetted in a fortnight. I can only cause gazetting after submission, analysis and approval. Late submission results in late gazetting and this is not helpful because Council’s account for this year will be prejudiced because they cannot charge their new tariffs in retrospect.
AC: There have been a number of stories on the packages given to Executive Mayors on the abolition of the Executive Mayors’ post. Can you shed light on what actually transpired? Did all outgoing mayors benefit? What did they get? What is the real problem?
IC: We realised that the Executive Mayor system was expensive and unsustainable, so we reverted to the ceremonial mayor. However, we allowed the sitting mayors at the time to purchase the mayoral house at replacement value and, the official car at book value, which by the way is a standard practise in the business sector in Zimbabwe. The Harare mayor was not offered the house as we felt this house should remain for official functions given Harare’s status as a capital city.
We cannot have councils complaining now about their failure to deliver service and trying to make this a partisan issue by linking it to decisions made in the interest of mayors from both parties It seems the matter is being politicised with MDC-T councils trying to deprive the Zanu-PF former mayors of an agreed entitlement. MDC mayors benefited just as (Advocate Martin) Dinha and (Sessel) Zvidzai benefitted when they left their mayoral posts.
AC: It seems you are very fond of Harare to the extent you are neglecting other local authorities. What is the reason that you concentrate more on Harare than on other councils?
IC: By virtue of the fact that Harare is the capital city and the largest local authority in Zimbabwe, it is inevitable that we have a certain amount of focus on it. However, it is not true that we focus only on Harare. Harare is getting attention commensurate with its size.
We have carried out investigations, audits and monitoring visits in numerous local authorities and we have uncovered serious anomalies on the part of councillors and officials in Councils such as Tsholotsho, Gokwe North, Bindura rural and urban, Chinhoyi and Hwedza.
We have 32 urban and 60 rural district councils and we are in touch with what is happening in all of them. We have recently re-introduced (a) Systems Audit to appraise our local government operational systems in all councils and through this, we intend to continue building capacity of local authorities and reduce leakages through the system. So far, we have found that rural district councils are more compliant to the law than the urban councils.
AC: What is the nature of your relationship with Mayor Masunda. (I notice you both have grey hair.) I also notice he is one person who challenges the majority of your decisions. Are you comfortable having him as Mayor? You are being accused, by him, of trying to score cheap political goals.
IC: Actually my hair is silver and his is grey (laughs). Mr Masunda is the Mayor of Harare and I respect him as such. He is a free man, entitled to hold his own opinions and views. I have no problems with him as a person. In fact, I have no problems with any of our local authorities.
We may subscribe to different political ideologies and different parties but as a matter of fact, when it comes to the discharge of our mandate vis-à-vis issues of service delivery we must enjoy convergence of opinion.
There isn’t much room for major disagreement with the Minister of Local Government. My job is to assist the local authority to do their job better – provide water, lighting, roads and other services on time, and affordably. No room to differ.
Isn’t this what Mayor Masunda wants as well? My job is to make sure things are working well. I don’t care what party is involved in which council – service delivery should never be politicised.
The Mayor has often marvelled at the level of ignorance and poor decision- making by his councillors but, he is presiding over a system whose own job evaluation exercise recommended they cut 3 500 jobs. Instead they recruited another 150 (municipal) police officers, 400 grass cutters and many others. The fact is that Council is overstaffed and instead of implementing a right- sizing programme, Council is making up its shortfall by taking funds from health and water – key basic service – to pay its bloated employment costs.
AC: Still on relationships – How do you relate to your Deputy Sessel Zvidzai given the spat between you and him these days over the dismissal of councillors?
IC: Mr Zvidzai is the Deputy Minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development and as far as I know, he has been very happy to be working in this Ministry. I think the mistake he is making is that he wants to operate like a Co-Minister.
We are served by a Permanent Secretary (Mr Killian Mupingo) and directors who have over 100 years of combined service in this ministry. We have dedicated law experts. This team does the groundwork and I get reports.
I read the reports, make recommendations, sign off and go home. He is part of the communication chain whereby decisions of the Ministry are made.
The team has a wide and diverse understanding and is trustworthy. In our Ministry, we practice what I call extravagant democracy and Mr Zvidzai is part and parcel of this Ministry and that democracy. This does not however alter the fact that, as Minister, I am ultimately accountable to Parliament and the Executive for the Ministry and as such I have the final say in all matters – good or bad.
For eight years, he was an executive Mayor (of Gweru), but when he elects to write a letter contrary to what the Ministry says (as he did in the Bindura mayor’s case) then, I think it is a bit clumsy, for lack of a better word. If I were him, I’d have sought audience with the Minister and discussed the perceived problem with him.
It was a bit unfortunate that he has opted to bring these factional partisan issues to the Ministry. That will not work. I hope that now that his party has held its Congress, he will be more settled and we can get back to work, because the Congress seemed to take up a lot of time and planning behind the scenes. Let the partisan factions stay at Harvest House and should not be brought to Makombe Building.
AC: Is this tension between you affecting the operations of the Ministry and local authorities in general?
IC: This Ministry is a happy place to work at. We are a very busy ministry and, we hardly ever have time to sit and waffle. If someone has an idea better than mine, we take that idea and give credit for it. I am more comfortable working as a team, of which he is a welcome member. I can assure you that the Ministry is ticking 100 percent.
AC: Recently there were press reports that you were refusing to meet the PM to discuss the impasse between you and Zvidzai. Why are you not meeting him?
IC: Incorrect. Mr Morgan Tsvangirai is the Prime Minster of Zimbabwe and he is the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of which I am a member. He has the formal authority to call any minister at any time to discuss Government business. I am aware that he wishes to see me, and I am always available if the Prime Minister’s schedule allows.
AC: What is the Democratic Councillors Association of Zimbabwe?
IC: It is a secretive sort of body set up when my deputy Mr Zvidzai was mayor. It is an MDC-T aligned NGO-type organisation that we believe is being used to fund certain councillors to try and create a parallel government.
We believe the organisation received generous funding last year, but that is not really our worry. Our worry is that it is excluding other councillors who were also democratically elected and is not being honest. The Zimbabwe Local Government Association (Zilga), is a recognised and national body for local authority issues and we have regular and open dialogue with the Association.
Zilga is the forum through which all serious people can contribute but, we have people coming in and meeting nicodemously. We would be unwise to allow narrow sectarian interests whose national vision is created and funded by a core of imperialistic organisations with the intention of creating a regime change agenda.
AC: Some sources have accused you of corruption. What is your comment on this?
IC: Creative and highly imaginative elements have accused me of owning a multitude of houses and stands in every city and town in Zimbabwe. This is a figment of their fertile imaginations aimed at tarnishing my image.
Credible investigative authorities such as our Police and Anti-Corruption Commission have been bombarded with such mischievous and baseless reports for a long time. It’s these authorities who should speak of corruption, if there is any, and nobody else.
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