Zinwa sues perm sec, MP over water bills

By Tendai Kamhungira

The permanent secretary in the Office of President and Cabinet, Boniface Chidyausiku and Zanu PF Member of Parliament for Bindura North Kenneth Musanhi have been dragged to the High Court for failing to pay their water bills to the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa).

Zinwa has since filed two separate applications, in a bid to recover the money.

The water authority is demanding $22 000 from Chidyausiku and $10 000 from Musanhi.

“The plaintiff (Zinwa) is by law empowered to administer all water in Zimbabwe including to inter alia, sell, charge and recover the money from such sales.

“Empowered by the said law, the plaintiff at the instance of the defendant (Chidyausiku) entered into an agreement with the defendant in terms of which, the plaintiff sold and delivered to the defendant water for his domestic and or commercial use at the farm.

“In terms of the agreement, the plaintiff and the defendant agreed on a specific water allocation to be paid as a whole. The defendant was to pay the sums due for the allocation on a monthly basis,” the court heard.

Zinwa accuses Chidyausiku of reneging on this agreement, through his failure to make due and punctual payment for the monthly charges.

“The cumulative amount due to the plaintiff by the defendant for the water charges is the sum of $22 098, 72, which amount is due and payable.

“The defendant is in breach of the agreement by failing to pay the monthly charges. The defendant has no right to refuse to make full payment.

“The defendant’s breach has unnecessarily caused the plaintiff to incur legal costs to recover the amount owing. The defendant must therefore pay the plaintiff’s costs of suit on an attorney and client scale. Despite demand, the defendant has failed and/or refused to pay this amount,” the court was told.

In Musanhi’s case, Zinwa also accuses the parliamentarian and businessman of failing to honour his obligations in terms of an agreement between the parties.

“The cumulative amount due to the plaintiff by the defendant (Musanhi) for the water charges in the sum $10 887, 27, which amount is due and payable,” the court heard.

The two officials have not yet responded to the summons, which are still pending before the High Court.

They however, have 10 working days within which to respond to the court summons. – DailyNews