How far one man will go for water

In 1992, Payne pushed a wheelbarrow carrying 210l of water from the Zambezi River to Bulawayo and then Gwanda. He emptied the drum and then continued his journey with the wheelbarrow to the House of Parliament in Harare. Payne’s plates, cups, clothing and vehicle are inscribed with the words “Zambezi Water for Matabeleland”.

“I have got more than 30 safari jackets and other Zambezi water campaign regalia. I will not rest until my vision of bringing water from Zambezi has been fulfilled. To me, age is irrelevant. I am young at heart when it comes to water issues. I will walk for water again one day,” said Payne in an interview with The Zimbabwean.

Born in Mtshabezi area in Gwanda district in 1938, Payne has been involved in water activism all his life.

“I have travelled all over Europe trying to source funds for the Zambezi Water Project,” he said. In 1992, Payne claimed that he sourced funds from donors in Holland for the Zambezi Water Project but the donors withheld the funding after the government insisted the funds be channelled through the treasury. In 1992, Payne formed Operation Desperation Trust with the aim of raising funds for the Zambezi Water Project. Some of the trustees included Pius Ncube, David Coltart and Israel Ndlovu.

Payne said since the early 1930s, successive governments have failed to bring water from the Zambezi River.

“It is time to stop the pipe-nightmare, the lies, fraud and politicking about this project. We cannot continue to have a situation where our own industries are forced to close down or relocate to other cities because of the water shortages. I pray to God that I should not die until the Zambezi water project is completed,” he said.

Bulawayo continues to face a water crisis, which has seen the Bulawayo City Council embarking on water rationing. The Zambezi water project was first mooted in 1912 but serious efforts to implement the project started in 1998 when the Dumiso Dabengwa-led Matabeleland Zambezi Water Trust was formed.

The water project was mired in controversy in 2010 when the Minister of Water Resources, Management and Development Samuel Sipepa Nkomo announced a government takeover of the project from the trust and renamed it National Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project. Although this development was received by some people as a step in the right direction, the takeover and re-christening of MZWT brewed up a storm in the province.

Members of the now-defunct trust, including Dabengwa, have been resisting the takeover, arguing that renaming the project would not add any value. Dabengwa and Nkomo have, however, buried their differences and agreed to work together.

The Chinese government, through the Chinese Exim Bank, recently availed $864 million for the project, which is viewed as the only solution to the region’s perennial water woes. Minister Nkomo has already appointed a 23 member Advisory Council to spearhead the project.

“I hope this time around the project will start. In the past, especially during election period, a lot of promises were made. This water issue should be addressed once and for all,” he said.

Minister Nkomo said the major role of the council was to ensure people along the pipeline derived maximum benefits from the project, before, during and after its construction. The construction of the Gwayi-Shangani Dam, a critical component of the project, has already started. The second phase of the project is the construction of a pipeline from Gwayi-Shangani dam to a reservoir in Bulawayo’s Cowdray park high density suburb. The third and final phase will be the construction of a 245 km pipeline from the Zambezi River to the Gwayi-Shangani dam.