Since 2002, Mandida Muhwandavaka has not seen running water from the tap outside her late husband’s house in the densely populated suburb of Mkoba 19.
Now aged 52, she has borne the brunt of waking up every day at 2am to go to the community borehole with a bucket on her head to fetch water – for 12 years. She has four children and two more dependants from her late husband’s family.
The problem now goes beyond that of enduring long queues at the community borehole because after having done that repeatedly for 12 years, she has somehow got used to the “hell of a life,” like 3,000 other women in the suburb.
No tenants
“My husband died in 2007. Though he was the breadwinner, I never got too much worried about my future and that of our four children because he left behind our five- bedroomed house here in Mkoba 19. From 2007 to 2012, we rented out three bedrooms to tenants and survived on the rent money. However, since 2013, no one wants to occupy the rooms – because there is no water.
“So we are now in a fix. I am unemployed. My children have pulled out of school because there is no money, we can’t even afford to put food on the table. The perennial problem of water here has all but stolen our lives,” she told The Zimbabwean before breaking down into tears.
Mkoba 19, which was established in the 1990s, has been facing a critical problem of water since the early 2000s. The local authority has failed to come up with a solution. Investigations reveal that the problem was ignited by the old water pumping system that got worn out and failed to pump the precious liquid to areas in the high altitudes like Mkoba 19. Though numerous complaints and petitions against the council have been made over the matter, a recent survey conducted by this reporter in the area revealed that it is the mothers, mostly those unemployed, who have come to the bitter end of the crisis.
In separate interviews, they all chronicled painful stories similar to that narrated by Muhwandavaka.
Painful stories
Sandisiwe Tshuma, 40, pointed out that burglaries in the houses of single mothers are now on the increase, as thieves target their homes each time they leave very early in the morning in search of water.
“They are only three boreholes to serve about 3,000 households. That is why we wake up early in the morning – usually around 2am – to fetch the water. We need to make several trips because we can only carry one or two buckets at a time. The queues are very long. So thieves target our houses each time we go out. I lost a television set and some gadgets and I never recovered them. The problem of water should now be addressed,” she said.
“Things have become so bad that mothers can no longer concentrate on anything else other than searching for water. We need to find the water for basic chores like cooking, bathing, washing, toilet use among others. At first our husbands and children used to help but we have reached a stage where they have become tired. They can no longer continue because they need to wake up in the morning going to work and school with fresh minds – so the burden has all fallen on the mothers,” said Roseline Mabhena, 42, a mother of six.
Torrid time
Skhululekile Maphosa, 45, a mother of four, explained that she almost encountered a miscarriage on her last born and even after giving birth, it has been a torrid time raising the child in an environment where there is no water.
“Our plea is that the authorities should have mercy on us. We cannot express adequately everything – but we are suffering. Water is life, without it the scenario simply becomes horrible,” she said.
Florence Guzha, the regional secretary of the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe, a women’s rights pressure group, said water crisis in Mkoba 19 was desperate.
No money
“We have heard of rape cases at the boreholes and cases where used condoms are found scattered all over near the boreholes in the morning, with some children actually picking them to blow like balloons. We have heard of mothers struggling to the extent of giving birth at the boreholes while searching for water. It’s just too sad. We have been pestering the council to address the problem of water and we hope that one day there shall be a solution,” she said.
Gweru city council’s Acting Director of Engineering, Playmore Mhlanga, explained that financial constraints have hampered the local authority’s capacity to address the situation and urged donors and the corporate world to chip in.
“We need to completely do a re-lining of the water system in Mkoba 19 so that pumps can draw water from our main sources like Gwenhoro and Amapongogwe dams. However, there is no money for that. The reason why other suburbs in Mkoba get water is due to the issue of altitudes. Mkoba 19 is located on a high plateau so our pumps do not have the pressure capacity to supply the households on that level,” he explained.
Ward 17 councillor Moses Muza said the council was in the process of trying to sink more boreholes in the area while long term measures are being worked out.
Post published in: Gender Equality