Rutendo Chirume
The 2019-2020 Auditor General Mildred Chiri’s report revealed that 44 percent of Mutare City’s water is being lost through non-functional and unmetered properties which has resulted in huge financial losses due to undercharging of residents.
The AG stated in the report that council had 29 542 water meters of which 9 413 were non-functional, in addition 4 523 properties were unmetered which leads to water and revenue losses by undercharging or estimates but however enquiries with management revealed that financial challenges faced by council were affecting the replacement of non-functional water meters.
Mutare Town Clerk Blessing Chafesuka said council has been trying by all means to install water meters and they have managed to secure a tender but it will take time to install them all.
“This is a project which will take us several years to complete and will greatly depend on budget performance but so far we have managed to secure 5 000 water meters which we will install in groups as we are incapacitated to do them all at once.
“For those without meters or with broken meters, we are doing estimated consumption though we might be losing out on lots of money due to this. We will start with broken meters and unmetered properties then work on the rest. Water crisis has been topical of late in the city and we will try within our capacity to resolve that,” said Chafesuka.
Commenting on the AG’s finding, Mutare Council management said they acknowledged that the water meters must be replaced every 10 years (at most).
“Council did not replace water meters over a long time and since 2019 the local authority has resorted to replacing water meters in phases for the top 300 customers and said will increase the number to 600 the next year depending on the funds available,” it read in the report.
