Masvingo City Council in Zimbabwe has started disconnecting water supplies to government institutions for non-payment of bills in a bid to recover over $30 million it is owed by the institutions.
The first government institution to have its supplies disconnected was the ministry of primary and secondary education which was cut off at the end of August after using water for years without remitting a cent to the local authority.
Masvingo town clerk Adolf Gusha confirmed the development saying council was left with no option after exhausting “all avenues of engagement in making government honour its debt”.
Other government entities that owe council huge sums of money include Masvingo Provincial Hospital, Zimbabwe Republic Police, Zimbabwe National Army and the Benjamin Burumbo government complex.
Masvingo provincial education director Zedious Chitiga was not amused about the development and accused the local authority of violating protocol.
“The people who disconnected us do not know the procedures; they should not disconnect government offices without authorisation,” Chitiga said.
But Gusha said non-payment of bills by the government entities was stalling plans by the local authority to improve service delivery in the country’s first urban settlement.
“This has nothing to do with the ministry of education; we are conducting an operation and we will disconnect everyone who owes the city council,” Gusha told local journalists recently.
“We do not have enough chemicals to purify the water and money to pay the workers yet some individuals have not been paying their bills for up to five years
“We do not have an option but to disconnect our services.”
The local authority has, over the years, made frantic efforts to have government pay up without any success.
Last year council proposed at debt swap deal with the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority whereby the government debt would be used to offset council tax arrears but this was rejected.
