Mayor Masunda was quoted in the Herald of Tuesday 15 July 2008. The same view has been expressed by his Chitungwiza counterpart Mr. Israel Marange, who said Council is ready to take back water and sewer management because ZINWA must be responsible for bulk water’. CHRA firmly stands in solidarity with the Mayor’s view. Since the ZINWA take over of the water supply for the cities and towns, the water crisis has been worsening and spreading across the country. ZINWA lacks adequate technical capacity to ensure that the City of Harare has continuous supply of clean water. Suburbs like Glen Lorne, Mabvuku, Tafara and some areas dotted all over the city, who have now gone for months without running water stand as living testimonies for the ZINWA failure. Water supplies remain erratic in all the parts of the city.
Besides lacking technical capacity, ZINWA is not responsible to the residents, but rather reports to the state appointed ZINWA Board. In that regard, where ZINWA blunders like it is doing, it is the council, which is blamed by its constituency. CHRA notes that ZINWA officials dodge meetings where they are called by residents to discuss the water crisis. They can get away with this unacceptable kind of behavior since the residents are not their masters. Thus the residents are finding it difficult to get ZINWA account to them for the water crisis. It is only fair for the council, which is responsible to the residents to manage the water supply.
CHRA once again calls for the immediate return of the water supplies management to the council, in the interests of saving lives and addressing the agony residents experience as a result of the unavailability of running water. ZINWA must instead revert to bulk water supply only and leave the administration to City Council whose mandate is service provision. It is our right to have clean and adequate water, and certainly we cannot continue to pay ZINWA for a service that it is failing to provide. Â
Farai Barnabas Mangodza
Chief Executive Officer
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
Post published in: News