FAILURE by the City of Harare to consistently provide safe drinking water to its residents could trigger another wave of waterborne Diarrhoeal diseases if Central Government does not intervene,Harare Residents have warned.
By Michael Gwarisa
This call follows revelations that one of the leading hotspots of Cholera in the capital, Budiriro has gone for three years without water while almost all residential areas are experiencing perennial water supply interruptions and having dirty water pumped into their homes.
Residents in most wards in the Capital are now relying on shallow wells or have to travel a distance to get water from boreholes. Areas that have been affected the most include Kuwadzana, Cold Comfort, Glenview, Mbare, Mabvuku, Kambuzuma, Budiriro, Chitungwiza, Braeside, Dzivarasekwa, Craneborne and others.
Budiriro 5B, in Ward 43, has gone for three years without water, while Budiriro 1, a known Cholera Hotspot had gone for at least six days without water by the time of going to print. The situation has also not spared the leafy suburbs of Harare as areas such as Marlborough are also experiencing prolonged water challenges.
The Harare Residents’ Trust (HRT) director, Precious Shumba accused the Harare City Management of spending money on workshops and trips at the expense of service delivery.
Despite the life threatening water shortages and claims of low revenue collections, City of Harare management and councillors are taking turns to organize workshops in Victoria Falls, Masvingo, Mutare, Kadoma and in Bulawayo where they pay each participant huge amounts in allowances plus fuel coupons,” said Shumba.
“The HRT is alarmed at the continued shortages of water in dozens of communities across Harare metropolitan Province where some residents have gone for more than a month without receiving council water. While the majority of the residents who do not have water are connected to the water system, thousands of residents settled in illegal settlements report that their boreholes are frequently running out of water, creating a huge health crisis.”
He added that the City of Harare, which provides water to all the local authorities in the Metropolitan, has on several occasions issued statements explaining that they are experiencing shortages of water treatment chemicals but their actions were not commensurate with the excuses they give for not supplying safe water.
“Initially they shut down pumping of water and cited maintenance works at the Morton Jaffray Water Treatment Works to justify the water shortages. This shows that the water crisis is not a priority to the council policymakers and management.
“Residents have become desperate. Water is life. Councillors and management have a duty to explain and justify what is happening to the residents as part of fulfilling their obligations to provide information to members of the public. The most frightening part is that Budiriro and Glen View suburbs which were the epicenters of the cholera outbreak in 2008- 2009 have had inconsistent water supplies.”
Shumba further called on the government to urgently intervene and ensure the situation changes for the good of the residents.
“Government’s intervention should be guided by the Constitution of Zimbabwe which recognizes the oversight role of the national government over local authorities. Without delay, the government should allow the City of Harare to purchase water treatment chemicals from the most competent suppliers. The current situation where the government wants the Council to buy water treatment chemicals from companies that are linked to the government is unhelpful and detrimental to the provision of water to residents of Harare Metropolitan Province.”
Meanwhile, speaking to HealthTimes in an interview, Harare City Council corporate communications officer, Mr Innocent Ruwende said the HRT’s assumptions that the City was neglecting citizens were frivolous and misguided as they have made significant strides to address the prevailing water crises.
“The City is supplied water chemicals by Zimphos which is facing challenges in terms of procuring raw materials used to produce water. We have since approached government for assistance and a raft of measures have been employed to ensure that Zimphos gets the raw materials it requires to produce water. We expect water production to improve in the coming days.
