Human rights civic organizing and activism is currently a restricted terrain in Zimbabwe following the indiscriminate arrest and detention of pro-democracy activists towards the SADC Summit held in Harare in August 2024. However, that does not utterly deter activists from innovatively exploiting the existing cleavages to demand accountability and good governance. This short story explains how Bulawayo activists under Matabeleland Institute for Human Rights (MIHR) used the Whatsapp social media app to demand accountable water governance in Bulawayo during the month of August 2024. MIHR Director Khumbulani Maphosa narrates:
THE PROBLEM
“The issue of the formation of a Bulawayo water utility company is one we were seized with since June 2024 but we thought Bulawayo City Council will try the stand alone department option before the company. But in August when we saw that they were abandoning the stand alone department and allocating US$17 million to form the public water utility company, we then decided to act. However, we were gravely concerned about the shrinking space and risk of physical organizing.
“After analysing Council resolutions, we noted that they did not consult residents in making this resolution and they seemed not keen to do so. We also noted that some officials had questions over the issue of the water utility company too just like the residents.
“It is then that we decided to strategically place ourselves at the centre and not unnecessarily antagonize anyone, but facilitate reasoning and dialogue. We did not want to detect to residents or Council what to do but to inform, educate and catalyse informed choice and action.
THE ACTIONS
“MIHR created a whatsapp group for concerned residents and within 24 hours it had 500 members. After 3 days the group had about 1,015 members.
“From that group we organized a series of information sharing actions. We organized a webinar on Google Meet where 74 residents attended and we had colleagues from Kenya and South Africa sharing their experiences with water utility companies.
“We also organized a series of citizen consultations through whatsapp polls and scorecards and used the data to communicate with the public and BCC. We also held whatsapp opinion surveys which we used to generate talking questions for residents to ask their councillors. We also used the data to develop objective information Fact Sheets to educate the residents about the Council resolution.
THE RESULTS
“After weeks of online organizing, mobilization, public education and direct civic engagement, the Bulawayo City Councilors announced on the 4th of September 2024 during the Full Council meeting that they are setting aside the water utility company idea and are inviting residents to engage them. They also announced that they will not privatize the City’s water authority.
WAY FORWARD
“MIHR went back to the whatsapp group, informed the residents and sought a new mandate. Residents gave the organization the mandate to transform the whatsapp group to be used to generate ideas on water governance to share with BCC whilst constantly monitoring and informing the City”.
CONCLUSION
This small action in Zimbabwe’s second largest City of Bulawayo is testimony that whilst authoritarianism and civic space is closing in many African countries like Zimbabwe, there is still window of opportunity to strategically organize and defend pro-democratic values and principles with less risk to the actors and organizers.
