Harare– Local Government and Public Works Minister, Daniel Garwe has defended the government’s ongoing rollout of prepaid water meters in Harare, telling Parliament that the shift from estimated billing to a “smart” metering system will bring fairness and transparency despite persistent water supply challenges.

MP Mazhindu’s Five-Point Questioning

St Mary’s legislator Brighton Mazhindu, who has consistently prioritised the water crisis affecting his constituency, put forward a comprehensive five-part question challenging the government’s rationale for the prepaid meter programme.

Mazhindu first asked what benefits Government expects residents to derive from the introduction of prepaid water meters, considering there has been no significant improvement in the supply, reliability and quality of water services.

He further questioned what measures have been implemented to ensure residents are not required to pay in advance for a service that is frequently unavailable, intermittent or inconsistent.

The MP also pressed the Minister on how Government justifies prioritising the installation of prepaid water meters ahead of critical investments in rehabilitating dilapidated water and sewer reticulation infrastructure, particularly to reduce losses arising from non-revenue water.

He demanded to know what safeguards are in place to protect vulnerable and low-income households from being denied access to water due to inability to purchase credit.

Finally, Mazhindu asked whether Government has undertaken any assessment of the potential impact of prepaid water meters on access to water as a basic human right and, if so, what the findings were.

Minister’s Response

Responding to Mazhindu, Garwe acknowledged residents’ concerns about paying in advance for a service that is frequently unavailable. He stated that the new system eliminates arbitrary estimated bills and allows residents to pay only for what they consume, promoting responsible water usage and improving municipal revenue collection.

However, the Minister faced sharp questioning over why the government is prioritising meter installation ahead of critical investments in dilapidated water and sewer infrastructure.

He insisted that the prepaid system is part of a broader structural reform and that infrastructure upgrades, including pipeline replacement and rehabilitation of Morton Jaffray Water Treatment Works, are running in parallel.

On safeguards for vulnerable and low-income households, Garwe said the government has established a social protection framework to ensure no resident is denied water due to inability to purchase credit.

He added that emergency distribution mechanisms are in place during maintenance or transition phases to mitigate service disruptions.

When asked whether a human rights impact assessment had been conducted, given that water is a constitutional right, Garwe said the government is aware of its obligations and that the system is designed with consumer protections.

Separate Sewer Crisis

In a related matter, Garwe updated the House on the rehabilitation of Sewer Pump Station No. 3 in Chitungwiza, which has been discharging untreated sewage into the Manyame River.

Background on Pump Station No. 3

The pump station is a critical piece of Chitungwiza’s sewage infrastructure, receiving sewage from St Mary’s, Zengeza 1 and Zengeza 5 via Sewage Pumping Station No. 1 before onward transmission.

The station has been identified as one of the town’s sewer “hotspot areas”, with the municipality previously admitting to discharging 25 megalitres of raw sewage daily into the Manyame and Nyatsime rivers since 2004, when the facilities stopped working and could not be repaired due to economic challenges.

The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) has previously convicted Chitungwiza Municipality for disposing of raw sewage into the environment from Pump Station 3 without a licence.

Garwe said the rehabilitation project, funded by the African Development Bank under the Zimbabwe Multi-Donor Trust Fund, is now 90% complete. The remaining work, including upgrading the sewer reticulation system, is expected to be finished by the end of next month.

Zengeza West legislator, Innocent Zvaipa pressed the Minister, stating that residents have seen no improvement and are “living in a sewer as before”.

Garwe responded that resources have been mobilised and assured the House that sewage flowing along roads and into rivers would soon be a thing of the past.