Harare City Council and Helcraw Forge Strategic Partnership to Modernise Water Infrastructure

By Thamsanqa Mpofu

In a bold step toward resolving Harare’s long-standing water challenges, the Harare City Council has entered into a transformative partnership with Helcraw Water (Pvt) Ltd. The collaboration is set to overhaul the city’s water infrastructure, with a focus on modernisation, efficiency, and transparency.

The partnership between Harare City Council and Helcraw is built on four key pillars aimed at improving water access, quality, and accountability. These include smart prepaid water meters enabling residents to pay for water based on actual usage, a pipe replacement programme covering over 6,400 km, 16 support service delivery vehicles for maintenance, and the upgrade of Morton Jaffray Water Works from 350 to 520 mega litres per day. Helcraw has also launched a real-time call centre, enabling residents to report faults and leaks directly to increase response time and improve transparency.

Harare Mayor, Cllr Jacob Mafume, recently led Sen. Charles Tawengwa, the Minister of State for Harare Provincial Affairs and Devolution, on a guided tour of Helcraw’s facilities and Morton Jaffray Water Works. During the tour, Mayor Mafume announced that central government had allocated US$9.8 million for the installation of 19 high-capacity pumps, each pumping 1000 litres per second. Senator Tawengwa was tunnel linking Lake Manyame and Lake Chivero where raw water was being drawn from the latter. Manyame  water is less polluted than that from Lake Chivero. The switch to Lake Manyame has reduced the number of water treatment chemicals used to treat water from nine (treating lake Chivero water) to just three for Lake Manyame. Mayor Mafume described the project as “a key cog in the water reticulation ecosystem.”

Helcraw CEO Brendon Jere stated that Helcrow was committed to delivering clean, reliable water to Harare residents. “We will see water flowing in areas that haven’t received it, aligning with the President’s vision that by 2030, every household should have access to potable water,” he said.

Sen. Tawengwa remarked that this initiative aligned with the Second Republic’s mandate to provide residents with access to potable water. He said, “Our mandate is to see to it that the residents of Harare and the people of Zimbabwe’s livelihoods are taken care of.”

This partnership underscores a renewed focus on infrastructure development, the power of public-private collaboration, and the importance of intergovernmental coordination. As the upgrades progress, Harare moves closer to achieving sustainable and equitable access to water for all its residents—an essential step toward realising Vision 2030.