It is the duty of women to ensure that there is drinking water at home daily. Some women travel distances up to 10 kilometres a day to fetch water, but the cleanliness and safety of the precious liquid remains a cause for concern.
Over the past two decades and more the Zimbabwean government has surrendered the task of clean water provision in rural communities to NGOs, most of which are scaling down operations due to the country’s unpredictable and sometimes hostile political and economic environment.
The situation in Gutu’s chief Makore area is deplorable as villagers still share drinking water with wild and domestic animals. Although boreholes were once drilled in the area by NGOs they have broken down leaving villagers with no option but to use unprotected wells as the only source of their drinking water.
For Marian Denhere of Magombedze village in ward 27 of Gutu South constituency it is just normal to share drinking water with animals. She said villagers at times gather stones and try to protect their water sources but animals come and destroy everything built to protect the water sources as they also search for the precious liquid.
“We are not worried at all because normally the animals we share water with are our domestic animals,” she said. “We used to have a borehole where the community used to get clean water but all is history now. The borehole broke down some two or three years ago and the community has no money to pay for its rehabilitation.”
Some of the families are relying on water from Mazare river where they dig small wells in the sand referred to as Mufuku in shona.
“We just go to the river with our containers and dig a shallow well in the sand,” said Erinah Moyo, a local villager. “Once we reach the water level we just wait for a few minutes for the unwanted particles in the water to settle down and then we fetch our water. We then destroy the shallow well by putting sand again on top of the water and we leave,” she said.
“This way we feel the water is safe and our elders have been doing this since time immemorial and none of them has ever complained of any stomach pains or any disease associated with drinking unsafe water, “she said. “During the rainy season we do not have to labour digging shallow wells because we just get our water directly from the river,” said Moyo.
The local councillor Jeffrey Tangemhare said the area used to have several boreholes but most of them have broken down. “Nearly all the boreholes in this area are no longer functioning and we are appealing to the government to come to our rescue because most people are drinking unsafe water,” he said, adding that baboons, monkeys and domestic animals were sharing water with human beings.
The situation in Gutu’s Magombedze area is just an example as most Zimbabweans living in rural areas do not have access to clean water.
Most NGOs that were involved in rural sanitation and water development have since stopped operating, while the few that remain have scaled down their operations due to financial problems.
“The operating environment in the country for NGOs is very unpleasant because of the polarised political situation,” said Mable Kona, who works with a local NGO. “At one time you are labelled a sell out and subjected to questioning for just helping rural communities. So donors no longer want to pour in money where the political will is not there,” she said.
There is no government ministry directly responsible for ensuring the provision of clean water to rural communities, where over two thirds of the country’s population lives.
The Minister of Environment, Climate, Water and Natural Resources, Saviour Kasukuwere, says his ministry has no budget to ensure the provision of clean water to the people. “We administer the country’s water bodies under the Zimbabwe National Water Authority a parastatal which is under my ministry. We do not have a budget that is solely aimed at providing clean water to the people,” said Kasukuwere.
Rural district councils, whose role is to supervise and enforce development projects in rural areas, also do not have budgets to deal with the provision of clean water. Even in urban areas councils are struggling to provide clean water to residents.
Post published in: News