Consumers who draw water from dams around the country owe the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) in excess of $133 million, Parliament heard yesterday. Zinwa chief executive officer Jefta Sakupwanya told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Lands, Agriculture Mechanization and Irrigation that most water consumers were reluctant to pay as they argued that the commodity was a natural resource.Mr Sakupwanya said of the $133 million debt, those who used water for irrigation purposes had the largest unpaid bill of $37 million followed by local authorities, which owed Zinwa $36 million.
“The main challenge we face is the unwillingness to pay for the water we deliver to our various customers. There is a misconception that Zinwa is charging water which is a natural resource. And this has impacted negatively on our ability to maintain some of the major infrastructure we have as assets,” he said.
He said as a result of the debt and unwillingness by consumers to pay, Zinwa owed its 2 000 workers a total of $11 million for seven months’ salary backlog.
“But with the limited resources we have, we still fulfil our mandate as much as we can,” he said.
Zinwa currently charges $5 per one million litres of water consumed from dams.
Mr Sakupwanya added that climate change, which has resulted in low rainfall patterns, had impacted negatively on Zinwa operations of managing water.
“We also have the impact of climate change that has affected the resource endowment itself. So we have to put in place mitigatory measures which also require investment in infrastructure for us to guarantee water security for the nation,” he said.
Zinwa manages and governs the country’s water bodies. — New Ziana.