[DEBATE] : (Fwd) Service delivery protests - Bulawayans boycott municipal and electricity payments

[Patrick Bond]

Zimbabwe: Urban Residents Left Behind By Dollarisation

Ignatius Banda

28 April 2009

Bulawayo — Cash-strapped residents of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city 
are digging in their heels and refusing to pay utility bills despite the 
municipality teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. At the heart of the 
dispute are dismal service delivery and the conundrum of using multiple 
currencies in an economy that boasts world record inflation.

The parallel use of multiple currencies announced in January by Tendai 
Biti, the newly appointed minister of finance in the unity government, 
effectively rendered the local currency extinct in everyday 
transactions. According to economists more stable currencies are being 
preferred as a hedge against hyper inflation and the local currency's 
volatility after years of economic recession. But the policy barons 
appear to have underplayed the local reality of ratepayers who do not 
have access to foreign currency.

Embattled industry and commerce officials say employers are struggling 
to keep their businesses afloat and have not yet made arrangements to 
pay workers in foreign currency. In the public sector the situation 
appears even worse as the government has not been able to secure funds 
for civil service salaries. It is commonplace these days for bodies to 
lie in state morgues for days as relatives struggle to raise burial 
expenses that must also be settled in foreign currency.

Residents in high density areas are expected to pay 15 U.S. dollars a 
month towards refuse collection, water consumption, sewerage and the 
general maintenance of the city. More affluent areas have to fork out 
more than double that amount. All households are also charged $100 for 
electricity. But revenue collection constraints have hamstrung the local 
authority and impacted on its ability to deliver services.

"We know it is difficult for everyone right now but [cannot] expect a 
change in service delivery as long as residents [don't] pay their 
bills," said Thelma Khuyo of the council's finance department.

"Even in the past, before the introduction of forex, we would have 
residents in arrears and houses would be auctioned. But now many who 
feel like not paying are just ignoring their bills."

Bob Mguni of the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BUPRA) 
concedes that the failure to pay utility bills has made matters 
difficult for the council but maintains that residents have no choice.

"There has been no deliberate call by any association to boycott bill 
payment. This is not organised mass action. What the people are simply 
doing is responding to their economic realities."

Winos Dube, chairperson of the Bulawayo Residents Association (BURA), 
which was formed in the 1960s said residents will never sustain council 
activities through rates alone.

"We have in the past suggested that the council must have some kind of 
income-generating projects since the municipality already has a number 
of assets and properties but this has not happened."

While acknowledging the council's poor finances, Bulawayo mayor Thaba 
Moyo contended that officials were trying to find solutions to the 
city's woes. On Mar. 16 he announced that the local council would 
purchase water purification chemicals for the next three months.

The source of the funding is not known but many believe the city is 
trying to appease increasingly restive residents, as unclean water has 
been a source of conflict in the past.

Last December, the mayor had complained that the city was unable to 
procure chemicals because suppliers were demanding cash upfront. It also 
coincided with a three-month strike by municipal workers who demanded to 
be paid in foreign currency. The industrial action put further strain on 
the perennially broke council and its already under-par service delivery.

Residents have taken it upon themselves to volunteer their services to 
spruce up a city once celebrated as one of Africa's cleanest. Groups of 
women have resorted to tending to council-owned schools where they, 
among other things, cut overgrown grass. Young people have organised 
clean-up campaigns to remove the rubbish that has been piling up across 
the city. It is not unusual these days to see unemployed youth filling 
potholes in the streets for tips from motorists.

"We have to do this as we all know the city council is failing to do it 
themselves," Owen Garise, a local youth commented.

"We have taken it upon ourselves to do something and have among other 
things asked residents to donate in cash or kind to the city's largest 
hospital," Dube told IPS.

A former councilor, Howard Hadebe, applauded citizen efforts to assist 
the municipality but cautioned against resident associations taking 
stands that "identify" them with a political party and "spoils" the 
relationship between the local authority and residents.

"For example, when you question how council budgets are reached without 
consultation with residents, you are painted with a particular political 
brush," snapped Dube. "It is unfortunate that once politicians are voted 
into power they do not listen."