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Sukulwenkosi Dube Plumtree Correspondent
SMES renting premises from Bulilima-Mangwe Business Incubator (BBI) premises in Plumtree have gone for almost three years without water supplies after Zinwa disconnected the building over outstanding bills. Zinwa has asked the building’s new tenants to clear arrears by previous tenants so that they could be reconnected. The new tenants are blaming the building’s management for failing to address the problem.
“I have been working in this building for the past three years and we have been without running water for two and half years. What is disturbing is that we are paying rentals yet we are expected to work from a building which does not have water supplies.
“We have been waiting for a long time for this problem to be addressed because I cannot be expected to pay for water that I never used. I expect Zinwa to bill me for what I used and not for what was consumed by the previous tenant. We are now suffering because of previous tenants,” said a tenant who declined to be named.
Another tenant blamed owners of the building. “The owners of the building were supposed to ensure that all tenants cleared their bills before they left. They know that the accounts reflect the workshop numbers and the water authority expects the person occupying each workshop to clear the bill.
“The management of this building should be more serious because in addition to operating from an area which does not have water supplies, the workshops are often flooded with raw sewage from a broken sewer line,” said the tenant.
He said the building’s management had an obligation to ensure that the environment is conducive for working.
“We are expected to bring our water from home and in instances where we are supposed to use the toilet we have to go to neighbouring houses,” said the tenant.
Business Development manager for Bulilima- Mangwe Business Development Trust (BBDT), Mr Celestine Godzi said the water disconnections were a result of the water utility’s failure to change account user names.
“It is true that the building does not have water supplies but this is because Zinwa has failed to update its system. Each workshop has its own meter and the agreement was that each tenant should have an account with the water authority in his or her name.
“We also made it clear that the tenants change over time and we made an agreement with Zinwa that each tenant will be liable for his or her bill. However, up until now the accounts are still reflecting the number of the workshop and not the name of the person renting the workshop,” said Mr Godzi.
Efforts to get a comment from Zinwa officials were fruitless.
Online Reporter