Harare City Council has assured residents that they will not be compelled to pay their water bills solely in US dollars.
Harare City Council Town Clerk Hosea Chisango said that residents are, however, free to settle their bills in US dollars. Said Chisango:
Our bills will remain in the currency that we are using. Those who bring US dollars are most welcome and we have since opened a Foreign Currency Account (FCA) as requested by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe and ministry of Finance. No one has yet paid in foreign currency so the bond account is the only one that is working.
Engineer Chisango said that the city now stores chemicals for a shorter period of time:
Requests for foreign currency are dealt with directly with the supplier. The supplier invoices the RBZ and it pays them directly. But it is not released in a single day, it is when they want it. In October, we had some delays in the release of the money and our chemical stocks went low but that was only temporary. As long as we are getting chemicals to the plant, we are good.