The Sunday Mail
After a stint of trading accusations over water tariffs and dams’ ownership, farmers and Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) finally met to find common ground at a stakeholder conference held in Harare last week.
However, rather than coming to a common position, the two parties appeared to leave the forum even more divided as they disagreed on a number of issues.
Tensions were evidently high throughout the meeting with both farmers and Zinwa staff engaging in harsh exchanges.
After Zinwa CEO, Dr Jefter Sakupwanya, had set the tone for a constructive dialogue in his welcome remarks, the mood swiftly degenerated once Farmers’ Unions Joint Presidency chairman, Mr Stancilous Goredema, took to the podium.
In unreserved terms he accused Zinwa of pegging water charges too high.
He derived his position from the fact that Zinwa is not maintaining water infrastructure which include wet lands, rivers and dams.
Mr Goredema launched his most stinging attack when he appeared to accuse the water authority of concealing audited financial results.
“In a nutshell the truth is that we are not happy with Zinwa, I think they should do more to show transparency and convince us why we should pay,” he said. “We do not really understand why we have to pay such exorbitant charges when nothing is done to maintain the water infrastructure that we have in our farms.”
Inspired by Mr Goredema’s blunt presentation, other farmers took turns to voice their grievances.
They questioned the legality of Zinwa’s ownership claim to privately constructed dams saying charging privately constructed and maintained infrastructure amounts to selling water. Farmers concluded that high water charges and poor infrastructure combined with other factors to affect agricultural productivity.
Responding to the charges, Zinwa board member, Mrs Betty Biri, provoked wrath from farmers when she reminded farmers that several factors, and not water tariffs alone, were affecting agricultural productivity.
“Farmers should increase yields if agriculture is to be viable. Water is not the only component in crop production,” she argued. “Farmers should put in place good agronomic practices and apply adequate fertilizers to achieve high yields.”
Predictably, her remarks certainly did not go down well with farmers.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president, Mr Wonder Chabikwa, quickly told Zinwa that the forum did not meet to discuss farming practices.
“We did not come here to discuss if farmers are practicing good farming methods or not, that is a discussion for another forum,” he said. “We know how to produce crops. We are complaining of high charges. Zinwa is charging us high tariffs, but practically there is no maintenance on the ground. We have trees growing on the dam walls, but Zinwa is charging high tariffs yet they are not delivering services.”
One farmer challenged Zinwa to state the instrument which empowers the Authority to collect tariffs from private dams.
“You are just doing things and we wonder where you are deriving the power from,” said the enraged farmer. “There are two scenarios, the first one is that as a farmer who took over and maintains a dam left by a white farmer why do you Zinwa say the dams are yours and claim charges.
“The second one is that as a farmer who built his own dam using own resources why should I be made to pay bills. The whole processes of bringing water to the field I have done it alone, so why do you still come and demand payment, are you selling water now?”
Apparently incensed, but unbowed by the incessant slaying, Mrs Biri, through an illustration, told farmers that while they are owners of the infrastructure, they are not owners of the resource.
“The other day when I was travelling, driving a Zinwa vehicle, a police man stopped me and gave me a ticket because the car did not have weight labels,” she said.
“I told him to write the ticket to Zinwa and not me since the car belonged to the organisation. The policeman then said ‘Oh ok, so you work for Zinwa which charges us for using water from our own boreholes?’ ‘I replied to him so you are the police who are making us pay fees for driving our own cars’.
“What I’m basically saying is that even if you have the infrastructure the resource is not yours,” she said, followed by mumbling in the audience.
Fortunately, at the time when the situation seemed to get worse the CEO Dr Sakupwanya stepped in and calmed the situation.
“Let’s mind the way we talk, we came here to discuss issues in perspective not to throw blame at each other,” he said.
“Let’s use the opportunity to share how we can improve the situation, as Zinwa we are committed to enable a good environment for business for you farmers as well as managing the resource.”
He assured the farmers that audited financial results are available and will be unveiled upon request. Mr Sakupwanya reminded attendants that the conference was convened for the greater good of the country.
Zinwa’s Engineer Waddilove Mandiziba then explained why farmers are required to pay for water emphasising that they are not directly paying for water but the services.
He insisted the money that consumers pay is for maintenance.
Water Resources Management Expert Engineer Zeb Murungweni backed Zinwa on water charges saying the charges are in line with the law.
He said the world over there is no country in which water is sold. He, however, hastened that water is a finite resource which has to be managed.
For water to be managed properly there is need for money and the money can only be raised from those who benefit from water.
“The laws were designed in a way which involves the stakeholder but the law can always be improved to meet contemporary needs,” he said. “What should be understood is that water is just like any other resources that we have and should be protected. While it is not for sale, it should be protected and regulated and it is those services which people pay for.”
Farmers also lamented that there seems to be a deliberate attempt to stifle farmers as they are receiving far worse treatment as compared to white farmers who never had a string of taxes to pay. The issue of water is a particularly a fluid one in the country at the moment following an announcement by Harare City Council that the first installations of prepaid water meters will begin next month. The move is against the wishes of residents’ representative groups. Section 77 of Zimbabwe’s Constitution says every person has a right to water.
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