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Disciplining a ‘Dissident’ City: Hydropolitics in the City of Bulawayo, Matabeleland, Zimbabwe, 1980–1994

2006; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 32; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03057070600656119

1465-3893

Muchaparara Musemwa,

Water Governance and Infrastructure

Abstract Post-independence Zimbabwe experienced three severe droughts within ten years, that is: 1982–1984, 1986–1987, and 1991–1992. The impact of these droughts was particularly severe on the urban poor as well as the overall economy of Bulawayo because of the perennially arid conditions that the city experienced since its establishment in 1894. This article explores four central propositions. First, that although independence theoretically ended restrictive and racialised access to water for the people of Bulawayo, it did not necessarily bring about increased water security. Second, that water crises persisted on a recurring basis. Third, that to a large extent these crises were man-made and linked to intense struggles over access to, and management of, water resources in postcolonial Zimbabwe. Fourth, that the conflicts were embedded in a larger set of ethnic and regional tensions which antedated the postcolonial period and were intensified by the ongoing ZANU–ZAPU political divide. The article documents the intense competition between the central government and the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) over water, and explores the social, economic, and political bases of this conflict between 1980 and 1994. Notes 1 See, for example, P. Bond, Unsustainable South Africa: Environment, Development and Social Protest (Scottsville, University of Natal Press, 2002); D.A. McDonald and G. Ruiters, The Age of Commodity: Water Privatisation in Southern Africa (London, Earthscan Press, 2004); D. McDonald, 'The Bell Tolls for Thee: Cost Recovery, Cut-offs, and the Affordability of Municipal Services in South Africa', in D. McDonald, J. Pape (eds), Cost Recovery and the Crisis of Service Delivery in South Africa (London, Zed Press, 2003); A. Turton et al., Trans-boundary Rivers, Sovereignty and Development: Hydropolitical Drivers in the Okavango River Basin (University of Pretoria and Green Cross International, Geneva, African Water Issues Research, 2003). 2 J. Selby, 'The Geopolitics of Water in the Middle East: Fantasies and Realities', Third World Quarterly, 6, 2 (2005), p. 329. 3 See for example, E.L. Nel and B.B. Berry, 'The Problems of Supplying Water to Third World Cities: Bulawayo's Water Crisis', Development Southern Africa, 9, 4 (November 1992), pp. 411–22; T.D. Gwebu, 'Urban Water Scarcity Management: Civic vs. State Response in Bulawayo', Habitat International, 26 (2002), pp. 417–31. 4 I interviewed 43 residents, the majority of whom lived in Makokoba Township and a minority in other parts of Bulawayo. Among these interviewees were City Council officials, civic group members, teachers and vendors who had lived in Bulawayo since the 1930s and 1940s. This group of interviewees provided some evidence for the perceptions explored here. 5 Because of political volatility at the time I conducted the research in Zimbabwe, i.e. during the 2002 presidential elections, I was not able to access government records. The situation has remained tense since then but I intend to revisit this subject to get the government's views when the situation allows. 6 G.H. Endfield, I.F. Tejedo and S.L. O'Hara, 'Conflict and Cooperation: Water, Floods, and Social Response in Colonial Guanajuato, Mexico', Environmental History, 9 (April 2004), p. 221; See also, T. Steinberg, Acts of God: The Unnatural History of Natural Disasters in America (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000); J.E. Hardoy, D. Mitlin, and D. Satterthwaite, Environmental Problems in Third World Cities (London, Earthscan Publications, 1992), p. 224. 7 W.G. Wannell and L.L. Hindson, 'The Hydrology of the Semi-Arid Regions of Rhodesia', papers from the Symposium on Drought and Development, First Rhodesian Science Congress, The Association of Scientific Societies in Rhodesia (M.O. Collins, 1968), p. 83; E. Goetz, The Rainfall of Rhodesia: Proceedings of the Rhodesia Scientific Association, 3, 3 (London, 1909), p. 44. 8 Chapter 7 of my doctoral thesis discusses at length 'the social effects of the water crises on Makokoba residents' between 1980 and 1992. See, M. Musemwa, 'Struggles over Water: The History and Politics of Urban Water Supply Services in Makokoba Township, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, 1894–1992' (PhD thesis, University of Minnesota, 2003), pp. 310–78. 9 Executive Summary of the Final Report of the Bulawayo – Matabeleland – Zambezi Water Supply Feasibility Study (Government of Zimbabwe, Matabeleland Zambezi Water Trust, and the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency, September 1996). 10 Interview with Paurino Thomson Mhlanga, Makokoba Township, Bulawayo, 3 July 2002. 11 J. Alexander, J. McGregor and T. Ranger (eds), Violence and Memory: One Hundred Years in the 'Dark Forests' of Matabeleland (Portsmouth, NH, Heinemann, 2000); See also, R. Hodder-Williams, 'Conflict in Zimbabwe: The Matabeleland Problem', Conflict Studies, 151 (London, Institute for the Study of Conflict, 1983), pp. 1–20. See also, E.M. Sibanda, The Zimbabwe African People's Union, 1961–87: A Political History of Insurgency in Southern Rhodesia (New Jersey, Africa World Press, 2005), pp. 71–120 and 237–304. 12 Alexander, et al., Violence and Memory. 13 R.G. Mugabe, 'The Unity Accord: Its Promise for the Future', C.S. Banana (ed.), Turmoil and Tenacity: Zimbabwe, 1890–1990 (Harare, College Press, 1989), p. 344. 14 For detailed discussions see, T. Ranger, 'City, State and the Struggle over African Housing: The Native (Urban Areas) Accommodation and Registration Act and the Transformation of Bulawayo, 1946–1960' (unpublished paper, Harare, 2001). 15 For more on the voting patterns in Matabeleland and the rest of the country see J.N. Moyo, Voting for Democracy: A Study of Electoral Politics in Zimbabwe (Harare, University of Zimbabwe Publications, 1992). 16 Moyo, Voting for Democracy, p. 28. 17 More information on human-rights violations in the Matabeleland province can be found in Alexander et al. Violence and Memory; Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights, Zimbabwe: Wages of War (New York, Lawyers' Committee, 1986). 18 B. Raftopoulos, 'Current Politics in Zimbabwe: Confronting the Crisis', in D. Harold-Barry (ed.), Zimbabwe: The Past is the Future (Harare, Weaver Press, 2004), pp. 7–8. 19 Bulawayo City Council Minutes (hereinafter referred to as the BCC Minutes). These are located at the Bulawayo City Hall. Letter from Bulawayo Mayor, Enoch Mdlongwa, to Enos Chikowore, Minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development, 'Relations between Government and the City Council of Bulawayo', 13 August 1985. 20 D. Pasteur and M. Ndlovu, 'Good Local Government in Zimbabwe: A Case Study of Bulawayo: 1980–1981' (unpublished paper, Birmingham, April 1992), p. 72. 21 BCC Minutes: Annual Report of the City Engineer, July 1984. 22 BCC Minutes: Annual Report of the City Engineer, July 1984. 23 S. Moyo, P. O'Keefe, and M. Sill, The Southern African Environment: Profiles of the SADC Countries (London, Earthscan Publications, 1993), p. 311. 24 BCC Minutes: Report of the Director of Housing and Community Services, 1987/88, p. 2 25 BCC Minutes: Report of the Director of Housing and Community Services, 1987/88, p. 2 26 In my doctoral thesis, I argued and demonstrated that the challenges of water scarcity were more acute in Makokoba Township than in any other African suburb of Bulawayo (see Musemwa, 'Struggles over Water'). 27 Masiye Pambili, 14 (May 1994), p. 27. 28 In the period between 1982 and 1992, the Bulawayo City Council implemented severe water restrictions: in 1983, and subsequently water rationing provisions in 1984, 1987 and 1991. 29 Masiye Pambili, 14 (May 1994), p. 27. 30 Interview with Lungisa Manzini, in Makokoba Township, 13 May 2002. 31 BCC Minutes, Minutes of the 2259th Meeting of the Bulawayo City Council, 19 June 1991. 32 BCC Minutes, Minutes of the Future Water Supplies and Water Action Committee, 12 October 1992. 33 E.L. Nel and B.B. Berry, '"Operation Pipeline" – Bulawayo's Search for Water', Geography, 78 (July 1993), p. 314. 34 BCC Minutes: Minutes of the General Purposes Committee Meeting, 4 April 1993. 35 A. Richards, 'Coping with Water Scarcity: The Governance Challenge' (unpublished paper, Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, University of California, Multi-Campus Research Unit, IGCC Policy Papers No. PP54, 2002). Paper posted at the Scholarship Repository, University of California: http://repositories.cdlib.org/igcc/PP/PP54, p. 1. 36 BCC Minutes: Box No. 2185, BCC Bye-Laws [sic]: Water Restrictions, 'Water Restrictions – Appeal by Mayor to Public to Reduce Consumption' (n.d.). See also, The Financial Gazette, 20 June 1991 and 1 August 1991. 37 The Chronicle, 2 February 1984. 38 BCC Minutes: Box No. 2185, Water Restrictions – Appeal by Mayor to Public to Reduce Consumption, n.d. 39 BCC Minutes: Minutes of the 2157th Meeting of the Bulawayo City Council, 2 February 1987. 40 Gwebu, 'Urban Water Scarcity Management', p. 424. 41 For a more sustained discussion on the social, environmental, and health implications of water scarcity and water rationing see, Musemwa, 'Struggles over Water', Chapter 7, pp. 310–78. 42 E. Bloch and J. Robertson, Zimbabwe: Facing the Facts: An Economic Dialogue (Harare, Thomson Publications, 1996), p. 92; Gwebu, 'Urban Water Scarcity Management', p. 424. 43 Government of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo-Matabeleland-Zambezi Water Supply Feasibility Study, MLGRUD, MZWT, SIDA (Harare,Government of Zimbabwe, 1996). 44 Raftopoulos, 'Current Politics in Zimbabwe', p. 7; see also I. Mandaza and L. Sachikonye (eds), The One-Party State and Democracy (Harare, SAPES Trust, 1991). 45 BCC Minutes: Minutes of the Future Water Supplies and Water Action Committee (FWSWAC), 4 May 1992. 46 BCC Minutes: Minutes of the FWSWAC, 12 October 1992. 47 Gwebu, 'Urban Water Scarcity Management', p. 426. 48 BCC Minutes: Minutes of the Engineering Services Committee Meeting, 5 December 1989. See also, Nel and Berry, 'The Problems of Supplying Water to Third World Cities', p. 418; Gwebu, 'Urban Water Scarcity Management', p. 426. Gwebu lists the number of occasions that senior government officials scoffed at the BCC's insistence on the idea of embarking on the Zambezi Water Project and argued that it was not the best solution and was cost-ineffective. 49 Financial Gazette, 12 March 1992; Gwebu, 'Urban Water Scarcity Management', p. 427. 50 For more on the details of the structure of the MZWT, see ibid.Gwebu, 'Urban Water Scarcity Management', p. 427 51 Gwebu, 'Urban Water Scarcity Management', p. 428. 52 Similarly, figures on the pipeline's planned length cited by various sources range from 320 km to 450 km and are one substantial source of the differences in estimated cost. 53 Bloch and Robertson, Zimbabwe: Facing the Facts, p. 93. Nel and Berry, 'The Problems of Supplying Water to Third World Cities', p. 410. (N.B. Z$ = Zimbabwe Dollar. The rate of exchange as at 27 August 1992 was: SAR1 = Z$1.75 and US$1 = Z$4.81). 54 The Independent, 4 June 2004. 55 Bloch and Robertson, Zimbabwe: Facing the Facts, p. 93. 56 Zimdaily Online Newspaper, 23 September 2005. 57 See the Erich Bloch Column, 'Unfounded Rumours of Bulawayo's Death,' The Independent, 29 October 2004. 58 Interview with Sainot Munapo Sithole, Makokoba, 6 July 2002. 59 Interview with Edward Simela, BURA, held at the National Railways of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, 27 June 2002. 60 Mugabe, 'The Unity Accord: Its Promise for the Future', p. 344. 61 Mugabe, 'The Unity Accord: Its Promise for the Future', p. 344 62 Nel and Berry, 'The Problems of Supplying Water to Third World Cities', pp. 411–22. 63 In a collection of essays on the history of Zimbabwe's independence struggle and the political process leading to the Unity Accord in 1987, C.S. Banana (ed.), Turmoil and Tenacity: Zimbabwe, 1890–1990 (Harare, College Press, 1989), senior ZANU-PF leaders, including Mugabe, Mutasa, and Mnangagwa, were at pains to emphasise the readiness of the central government to channel development assistance to many parts of Matabeleland but that this was made impossible by the ongoing banditry in the province. 64 M. Sithole, 'Managing Ethnic Conflicts in Zimbabwe', in O. Nnoli (ed.), Ethnic Conflicts in Africa (CODESRIA Book Series, 1998), p. 351. 65 See T. Ranger, 'Matabeleland Since the Amnesty', African Affairs, 88 (1989), p. 165; Sithole, 'Managing Ethnic Conflicts in Zimbabwe', pp. 351–78. 66 J. Davison, Gender, Lineage, and Ethnicity in Southern Africa (London, Westview Press, 1997), pp. 157–58. 67 Sithole, 'Managing Ethnic Conflicts', p. 373. 68 As Sithole notes, 'in the three elections held since independence, ZAPU or former ZAPU members won overwhelmingly in Matabeleland. Similarly, ZANU won overwhelmingly among the Shona-speaking regions. Sithole's (Ndabaningi) [sic] party has held on to the seat in the Chipinge constituency for every successive election', in Sithole, 'Managing Ethnic Conflicts', pp. 373–4. 69 T. Falola, The Power of African Cultures (Rochester, University of Rochester Press, 2003), pp. 119–20. 70 The Sunday Mail, 24 October 1993. 71 Nel and Berry, 'The Problems of Supplying Water to Third World Cities', p. 416. 72 The Sunday Mail, 24 October 1993. 73 The Sunday Mail, 24 October 1993 74 Sidney Malunga was one of the most vocal members of PF-ZAPU until 1987. He, together with others, became a ZANU-PF Member of Parliament after the Unity Accord and remained one of the foremost and most fearless critics of the government. 75 The Sunday Mail, 24 October 1993. 76 B. Gumbo and P. Van der Zaag, 'Water Losses and the Political Constraints to Demand Management: The Case of the City of Mutare, Zimbabwe' (unpublished paper, second WARFSA/Waternet Symposium: Integrated Water Resources Management: Theory, Practice, Cases: Cape Town, 30–31 October, 2001), p. 1; A. Mukheli, G. Mosupye, and L.A. Swatuk, 'Is the Pungwe Water Supply Project a Solution to Water Accessibility and Sanitation Problems for the Households of Sakubva, Zimbabwe?' (Unpublished paper, second WARFSA/Waternet Symposium: Integrated Water Resources Management: Theory, Practice, Cases: Cape Town, 30–31 October, 2001), p. 1. 77 For more on how the political dimension to the project was carefully navigated leading to the swift construction of the Pungwe pipeline see Gumbo and Van Der Zaag, 'Water Losses and the Political Constraints to Demand Management', pp. 1–10. 78 Bloch and Robertson, Zimbabwe: Facing the Facts, p. 95. 79 BCC Minutes: Minutes of the Special Joint Meeting of General Purposes Committee and Future Water Supplies. 80 BCC Minutes: Report of the Future Water Supplies and Water Action Committee Meeting, 28 September 1992. 81 BCC Minutes: Report of the Future Water Supplies and Water Action Committee Meeting, 28 September 1992 82 BCC Minutes: Minutes of the Special Joint Meeting of General Purposes Committee and Future Water Supplies and Water Action Committee Meeting, 18 June 1992. 83 The Sunday Mail, 24 October 1993. 84 The Sunday Mail, 24 October 1993 85 The Sunday Mail, 24 October 1993 86 The Sunday News, 12 December 1993. 87 J.D. Bhebhe, quoted in Democratic Governance in Zimbabwe: Citizen Power (London, Commonwealth Foundation, 2000), p. 60. 88 The Sunday News, 12 December 1993; Chronicle, 30 December 1993. 89 See Chapter 7 of Musemwa, 'Struggles Over Water'. 90 Interview with A.C. Ndambe, BURA executive official and former Deputy Mayor, held in Bulawayo, 27 June 2002. 91 O. Ransford, Notes on 'A History of Bulawayo', in BCC Minutes, Volume 2, April–June, 1967. See also, G. Keith, The Fading Colour Bar (London, Robert Hall, 1966), pp. 47–9. 92 M.M. Ndubiwa, 'African Participation in Housing Management in Rhodesia' (Occasional Paper, City Housing and Amenities Department, Bulawayo, n.d.), p. 54. 93 Masiye Pambili, 15 (December 1994); The Sunday Mail, 17 April 2005, 'Harare Changes Face Drastically' provides a detailed list of numerous postmodern buildings that have mushroomed in Harare since independence. The number and style of these buildings far outstrip equivalent change in Bulawayo, which continues to look like the colonial city that it had always been. Although most of the property development in Harare was carried out by the private sector (Old Mutual, Zesa Pension Fund, etc), the fact that such development was concentrated in Harare raises questions about Bulawayo's status as an investment destination given its proneness to drought – a situation that could be corrected if water supplies were abundant. 94 Masiye Pambili, 15 (December 1994). 95 National University of Science and Technology Yearbook, March 2004–April 2005, 'Mission Statement', pp. 88–89. 96 The MDC won all the urban parliamentary seats in 2000, and almost all the municipal wards in the 2001 local elections that saw a mayor from the opposition party take office. For details on the elections and the rise of the MDC as the first formidable opposition in post-independence Zimbabwe that came close to dislodging the ZANU-PF government from the seat of power, see P. Alexander, 'Workers, the MDC and the 2000 Election', Review of African Political Economy, 27, 85 (September, 2000), pp. 385–406; and E. Masunungure, 'Travails of Opposition Politics in Zimbabwe since Independence', in D. Harold-Barry (ed.), Zimbabwe: The Past is the Future (Harare, Weaver Press, 2004), pp. 147–92. 97 See Kamete's article, 'The Return of the Jettisoned: ZANU-PF's Crack at "Re-urbanising" in Harare', in this issue of the Journal of Southern African Studies. 98 The sacking of Harare Mayor, Engineer Elias Mudzuri, by the Local Government Minister and putting the Municipality under a curator – the ZANU-PF filled Commission led by former MDC Deputy Mayor, Sekesai Makwavarara – who defected to ZANU-PF, is a case in point. Deprived of political control over the two most important cities in Zimbabwe, the ZANU-PF government also declared the two cities provinces and, like other provinces, ZANU-PF provincial governors were appointed to run them and to oversee local government. Additional informationNotes on contributorsMuchaparara MusemwaThis article is a revised version of the paper presented at the African Studies Association of Australia and the Pacific Annual International Conference University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia, 26–28 November 2004. Many thanks to my advisors, Prof. Allen Isaacman and Prof. Michele A. Wagner, both of the University of Minnesota, for supervising the thesis for which the research in this article was originally carried out, and for their support. I acknowledge financial assistance from the Compton Peace Foundation, which made the field research for the thesis in 2002 possible. The views expressed in this article remain completely mine.