By Takura Zhangazha*
Last week the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association
(BUPRA) held a march, together with its
civil society partners, against the proposals by the Bulawayo City Council to introduce
prepaid water meters. The mayor of the city, Councillor Martin Moyo, was reported in a local daily as saying
he had no choice but to implement central government’s directive in order to
fundraise for water treatment chemicals
among other things.
The minister of
Environment and Water Savious Kasukuwere weighed in with what appeared more a declaration
than a measured response by saying that there is no going back on prepaid water
meters as a broad government policy even in the wake of demonstrations by
Bulawayo residents.
The intention of government is to privatise water. Not, as the mayor of Bulawayo assumes, to
merely fund raise in order to get water treatment chemicals. The truth of the matter is that the mere act of
placing a pre-paid water meter on every household in Cowdray Park and Hlalani Kuhle as ‘pilot projects’ is an act
that seeks to exclude the poor from access to water.
But this needs further explanation. Government, in this case, the Ministry of
Environment and Water and the Bulawayo City Council, are using a model that has
been proven to be a failure across many parts of the developing world. In these models, the government decides to
outsource water supplies to private players. So this generally takes six undemocratic and profit driven steps.
Step Number 1: Government starts with pre-paid water meters. These
will be supplied by (most likely South African) private companies to government at a cost. The latter will
work out a payment plan with the private company depending on its ability to
charge specific rates that cover both the actual costs of supplying water and
purchasing the prepaid water meters. So the cost of installing of the prepaid meter will be the burden of the residents and
ratepayers.
Step Number 2: These
are just the initial stages. In the
aftermath of the purchase and supply of the prepaid water meters, government then
argues it cannot maintain these meters.
It sub- contracts the same or another private company to maintain them
while again passing on the cost to the resident and taxpayer.
Step Number 3: At
this stage the resident and taxpayer now has a triple cost. Firstly , that of paying for water as was
always the case, secondly that of paying for the prepaid meter (which can be
once off- or negotiated payment plan) and thirdly that of paying, in levied
form, for the maintenance, repair of the prepaid water metering system. Put more simply, the initial assumptions that pre-paid water
meters lead to cheaper and more readily available water for ordinary residents, will evidently become the
myth that they are.
Step Number 4: The
fourth stage that normally follows is that government then decides that it
wants to privatise the water supply system (pipes, reservoirs etc). It approaches
companies to lay pipes in what it calls public private partnerships and these
companies then get first call at actually maintaining or owning the pipes. That cost is factored into the levies and
commissions that are deducted every time a resident pays for water. The cost
per unit increases and families begin to ration water.
Step Number 5:
the entire billing system and maintenance of clean water supplies becomes the
preserve of the rich and well off with costs being determined solely for profit. Government will be getting its
commissions/levies and taxes from the private companies who in turn pass on the
cost to the resident and ratepayer in order to maintain their profit levels.
Prepaid meters stop getting ‘juiced’ for lack of income and water becomes a
commodity and not a right.
Step Number 6:
Majority urban poor turn to unclean sources of water, ‘’bootlegging’’ water and
in the final analysis will no longer be able to ask their neighbours for a free
glass of the life- giving liquid.
*Takura Zhangazha writes in his individual capacity
(takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)
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