Minister of Environment, Water and Climate Oppah Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri

CHIREDZI sugarcane farmers are up in arms against the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA), which they said was overvaluing water allocation to farmers.
Environment, Water and Climate Minister, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, last week sent a delegation to Chiredzi to arbitrate in the dispute between ZINWA and 872 A2 farmers who are challenging the authority over the manner it is distributing water to them
Currently the water authority is releasing water in bulk to groups of farmers who are charged $105 per hectare regardless of whether one has used the water or not.
The farmers are lobbying for a reduction of water tariffs and have engaged an independent Israeli consultant who, after a study, concluded that ZINWA’s $7 per megalitre charge for the 15 megalitres per hectare allocation was too high.
The farmers, who said their cane plots require only six mega litres per hectare, are arguing that they were paying for an extra eight mega litres which they are not using.
The farmers said ZINWA has argued that it bills water on release into the main canal and is not responsible for anything that happens thereafter.
Muchinguri-Kashiri’s team, led by government’s chief hydrologist, Zvikomborero Manyangadze, went to Chiredzi on Thursday last week on a fact-finding mission. It met the Zimbabwe Sugarcane Farmers Association (ZSFA) members.
ZSFA chairman, Admore Veterai, said farmers sought government mediation after ZINWA “became elusive like the mirage”.
“We engaged the ministry after we were frustrated by ZINWA over our interactions with them on water issues. We asked the minister to intervene and organise a respectable and serious dialogue because ZINWA has not been forthcoming,” said Veterai.
ZINWA public relations manager, Marjorie Munyonga, did not respond to questions sent to her via email as she had requested.
The farmers are also up in arms with ZINWA over irregular water supplies which they said were affecting their crop.
Veterai said ZINWA had cut off water supplies to the farmers for five months from November last year and only restored supplies in April this year, by which time a lot of crops had been affected.
“The loss incurred this season, as a result of unnecessary water cuts, was $33 million. Sugarcane is a water crop and we wait for it to grow for 12 months, only for ZINWA to cut off water. We found that to be very obnoxious. We are rattled by the attitude of ZINWA; we need a continuous supply of irrigation water,” he added.
They are also asking ZINWA to adopt scientific measurement of water so that farmers can pay for the water they consume instead of relying on random estimates.
The farmers wrote to ZINWA offering to buy water-flow measuring devices which the authority would specify and calibrate, but there has been no response.
A copy of a memorandum of understanding between ZINWA and the farmers – itself a bone of contention – curiously exonerates the authority from accountability over what happens after the water has been released.
Section 3,7 of the memorandum reads: “The consumer shall pay to ZINWA for the whole of the allocation regardless of whether he uses the same or not in an agreed period.”
“We are paying for water which we are not using. Water should be measured instead of being estimated. Why can’t we be scientific?” asked Veterai.
Much water is being lost in transit due to leaking canals despite the fact that ZINWA’s cost build up includes canal maintenance fees. Farmers are now being forced to repair the water channels, some of which have developed huge cracks as trees and other vegetation grow inside and alongside the water ways.
“It’s a big mess,” charged Veterai. “We are sitting on a very good and efficient colonial infrastructure which we just want ZINWA to maintain. It is surprising that they have an annual shutdown during which they should be maintaining the canals, but nothing happens and we end up having all types of grasses and trees growing inside the channels.”
ZINWA has, of late, suffered serious corporate body blows from local authorities and farmers who are arguing that its tariffs are too high. ZINWA’s ability to continue as a going concern was also doubted by auditor general Mildred Chiri, who noted in her 2016 audit report that it had incurred a $13,3 million loss in the year, with liabilities exceeding assets by $17,8 million.
The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Public Works and National Housing recently also rapped ZINWA in a report in which it recommended that the institution should cede the provision of bulk water to local authorities because it has failed rate payers.

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