The Municipality of Gwanda has finally succumbed to pressure from the residents and withdrew its proposed compulsory installation of prepaid water metres.
 
For close to two years the Municipality and the Gwanda Residents Association had been battling each other in a protracted war over the water-metres, slammed as “rubbish gadgets” by residents.
 
Speaking to media, the Mayor of Gwanda councillor Knowledge Ndlovu said that his council has finally decided to listen to the wishes of the residents and is withdrawing from their previous stance of compulsorily installing the metres on all the houses in the town.
 
According to the Mayor the metres will be left optional for those residents who would voluntarily ask for the metres to be installed at their homes. The move by the Municipality Of Gwanda comes at the back of a similar retraction by the City of Bulawayo which also bowed to Residents pressure and made the installation of the gadgets optional.
 
The Gwanda Residents Association has however received the news of the Mayor’s statement with caution. The Association says that it will only find cause to celebrate the Mayor’s statement after a full council resolution to the effect has been passed by the local authority.
 
Speaking to ZimEye.com the General Secretary of the Association Mr Bekezela Maduma Fuzwayo said that they will not take the Mayor’s individual accession on the matter as the final position of council until it has been tabled before a full council meeting.
 
“We are dealing here with a council holding a history of factions amongst itself and until they have met and come up with a confirmed resolution on the matter we will consider the battle as still on,” said Fuzwayo.
 
Fuzwayo however expressed excitement on the fact that council has acknowledged the voice of the residents to some extent.
 
“While we wait for the council resolution we are indeed at least joyed that some sectors of council have heard our call and agreed to it, that’s all that matters as a starting point,” he said.
 
Residents throughout the country’s major urban centres have been holding demonstrations against the prepaid water metres. Gwanda Residents demonstration against the metres was last year thwarted by the police at the last minute citing security concerns as reason for the blocking.