By Loyd Matare
The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) has slammed the ‘highly inflated’ water tariffs proposed in Harare City Council’s 2026 budget, describing them as “unrealistic” and “a cruel blow to struggling households already living without reliable water supply.”
The proposed tariff hikes up to 61 percent for high-density suburbs and an alarming 188 percent for low-density areas are, according to City officials, meant to align charges with “the true cost of producing and distributing water.”
Under the new structure, residents in high-density areas, who currently pay US$1.24 per cubic metre for the first 5 cubic metres, would now pay US$2.00, while in low-density suburbs, the same amount of water would jump from US$1.70 to US$4.90.
But CHRA has hit back, accusing the local authority of attempting to privatise water under the guise of cost recovery.
“The water tariff hike is a threat to household water security and a deliberate move aligned to the water privatisation agenda,” CHRA said in a statement.
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“This will isolate the urban poor from accessing water on the basis of affordability.”
The association said the proposed increases were unjustifiable in a city where water taps often run dry and residents rely on unsafe boreholes and wells.
“Residents cannot be expected to pay more for a service that is not there,” CHRA said.
“How can Council talk about aligning tariffs to cost when residents are buying bottled water every week just to survive?”
“In Johannesburg, the same amount of water costs US$1.24, yet the service delivery there is far superior,” the association added.
