Water service provision continues to dog most water utilities in developing countries including Zimbabwe. In
Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, the service delivery has been declining from 2005 when Zimbabwe National Water
Authority (ZINWA) took over the mandate from Harare City Council (HCC). The challenges were evidenced by
unrelenting water shortages which forced people to adopt unsafe water sources leading to outbreak of waterborne
diseases such as cholera. In February 2009, HCC repossessed the mandate. This study assesses HCC’s performance by
focusing on water service delivery. Key aspects investigated included service quality, affordability, water production and
demand, coverage and Non Revenue Water. The nerve centre to this research is a sample study that was carried out in
Harare from January to March 2010. Data was collected by means of reading secondary and primary sources, interviews
and field observations. Harare water utility has a Non Revenue Water of 35-40% and coverage of about 98%. The study
established that active coverage was 88.1 % and residents without tap water were resisting payment of monthly fixed
charges. Only 50.4% of the population had a 24 hour service and 54.8% of the residents perceived water to be of poor
quality and have resorted to household level disinfection methods, drinking borehole and bottled water. Service
availability was still bad in the eastern suburbs compared to western areas. It is suggested that the Government and other
stakeholders form and capacitate a strong regulatory board, diversify water sources, outsource some of the water service
divisions and also scrap off fixed charges for residents without tap water.