By NQOBANI NDLOVU HUMAN rights lobby groups have put Bulawayo City Council under scrutiny over US$2 million raised from a water levy development initiative, which they suspect was misappropriated. The Matabeleland Institute for Human Rights (MIHR) has since petitioned council to give a breakdown of how the money was used. The water levy was adopted by council in 2010 as part of a fund-raising initiative to facilitate the implementation of the Insiza water pipe duplication scheme. It was shifted to the Nyamandlovu Epping Forest project as the money was said to be inadequate for the Insiza project. Under the programme, residents were paying US$1 per month towards the water levy. In its petition dated March 3, MIHR accused council of failing to account for the money. “MIHR beseeches BCC to clarify on the US$1 722 557,68 from the pipeline levy which seems unaccounted for. “In your letter to MIHR dated February 10 2021 you claimed that you collected a total of US$6 911 115,26 between 2009 and June 2018 and paid it to the Epping Forest project. “However, engineer Simela Dube as quoted…in 2020 told the world that US$5 188 557,58 (US$4 013 914 for Epping Forest Lot A and US$1 174 643,58 for Lot B) was paid towards the project. “We, therefore, seek clarity on the above-mentioned matter as per our request of February 11, 2021 and the follow-up letter we wrote on February 16, 2021,” MIHR co-ordinator Khumbulani Maphosa wrote. Maphosa said BCC must provide proof of payments made to the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) or the Epping Forest project contractor from the pipeline levy to enable finalisation of the Epping Forest Water project. “The timely and accurate provision of this information by Bulawayo City Council is a legal duty imposed by the Constitution to the local authority, and will foster transparency and accountability as well as demonstrate respect for the residents of Bulawayo. “This will ultimately promote public confidence in the city’s administration,” he said. President Emmerson Mnangagwa commissioned the Epping Forest project last month with pumping from the Nyamandlovu aquifer expected to provide the city with an additional 10 megalitres of water a day. Last September, Treasury released $205 million for the rehabilitation of the Epping Forest boreholes.