Water shortages, intermittent supply and sewage issues have steadily increased across the country, particularly in high density suburbs. Residents’ associations in Zimbabwe’s two major cities, Harare and Bulawayo, have now called for immediate action from both local and national government to prevent the situation from getting worse.
Zibusiso Dube, the information manager for the Bulawayo Progressive Residents’ Association, told SW Radio Africa that the water problems are “severe,” and there are regular shortages that sometimes last up to a week at a time.
“People are resorting to storing what water they can get in containers. Others are relying on boreholes. But some residents don’t have access to boreholes, to they have to rely on other sources,” Dube explained.
He said that calls on the local Bulawayo council to improve the situation have fallen on deaf ears, “and not even water bowsers are being supplied to ensure residents have access to clean water.”
“The water is a failure of leadership and we have had problems since independence. It is appalling that the government has failed to come up with a solution for more than 30 years,” Dube said.
The Bulawayo grouping has also raised concern about the related health issues that the water problems have created, with increasing cases of cholera and typhoid. The water borne diseases have thrived in areas with little access to clean water.
These same concerns are still very high in Harare, where the cholera outbreak of 2009 and the typhoid outbreak of this year, hit the hardest. Simbarashe Moyo from the Combined Harare Resident’s Association (CHRA) told SW Radio Africa that the situation is “out of control.”
“The water systems were constructed 50 years ago. But the population has boomed since then. The problems now are a lack of planning from the local government,” Moyo said.
He explained that some of the areas around the capital have not had running water for about a decade, while others areas are now solely reliant on boreholes for water. He said it is a “failure by government” to not supply this most basic need.
Meanwhile, the government is being urged to explain how millions of dollars in funds, donated specifically to address water issues, have been spent. Zimbabwe has received over $8 million from the UK over the past three years to improve access to clean water countrywide. The funding, managed by UNICEF, has been coming from Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID).
UNICEF Zimbabwe Representative, Gianni Murzi, said in a written speech this week that the agency is concerned with reports that most Zimbabweans, 30 percent of them in rural areas, do not have access to clean water. Murzi said the statistics “make a compelling case to increase investment to improve water and sanitation services.”
“Since 2009, DFID has channelled more than $8million through UNICEF to improve the supply of clean water and adequate sanitation facilities for all Zimbabweans. I wish to highlight that poor sanitation has a negative bearing on the country’s Millennium Development Goal priorities, including poverty alleviation,” Murzi said. – SW Radio Africa News
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