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No end in sight to Harare's water woes
Valentine Maponga,The Standard (Zimbabwe)
April 11, 2005

http://www.thestandard.co.zw/read.php?st_id=2151

POLITICAL meddling and business rivalry among companies that supply the Harare City Council with water treatment chemicals has impacted negatively on water supply situation in Harare, posing serious health hazards to residents, The Standard has been told.

By the beginning of last week Highdon Investments (Pvt) Limited, the firm that supplies the council with the chemicals, was reportedly failing to deliver supplies to the authority.

Psychology Chiwanga, the director of works in the City Council, last week said the council had run out of oxidising agents because the suppliers had not delivered.

Mike Davies, chairman of the Combined Harare Residents' Association (CHRA), blamed the crisis on political interference in the affairs of the council by Zanu PF.

"Most of the commissioners who are running the council right now are well known Zanu PF supporters and this has affected the service delivery system of the city. Political interference is the root cause of all the problems that are bedevilling the city," Davies said.

He said water problems in Harare predate the MDC-dominated council's tenure. "Over the past years we have seen some people getting city tenders only because they belong to the ruling party and after a few weeks they short-change people," Davies said.

Highdon Investments is owned by McDonald Chapfika, a relative of Zanu PF MP for Mutoko North, David Chapfika, who is also the Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Development.

Contacted for comment, Chapfika said they had never failed to supply the chemicals. "You must know that there are some companies that wanted to get the tender to supply the council but they failed and these are the same people who are peddling these falsehoods. We have never failed to supply," Chapfika said.

Alex Mashamhanda, the managing director of MT&N, one of the losing tenderers, said despite his company having stocks of the chemical, the council can not buy from his firm because they awarded the tender to Highdon Investments.

"In the past years, we used to supply the city council together but after our bid failed, the council gave Highdon the monopoly to supply the oxidising agents. It is very dangerous especially if that chemical is not available," he said.

He added: "Council officials should know that they are putting people's lives at risk. That chemical needs to be applied regularly because if it's not used a lot of water is going to be lost."

DBR Polymers, another company whose bid was also unsuccessful, claimed that it had an alternative chemical that could be used for water treatment.

It said the chemical, which they sell in local currency, could help ease the problems encountered by the council.

Other companies that had their bids turned down include Zimbabwe Phosphate Industries, Astra Chemicals, Kithra Enterprises (Pvt) Ltd and Consolidated Engineers and Merchants (Pvt) Ltd.

An oxidising agent is used to destroy algae, which blocks filters at Morton Jaffray Water Treatment Plant.

Algae grows extensively in Lake Chivero, Harare's main source of water, and if the chemical is not used a lot of treated water is wasted in cleaning up the sieves.

Harare Council spokesperson, Leslie Gwindi, said: "The problem is not about the chemicals but it's just that we are moving water from our old reservoirs to new ones. We will experience some problems but they will come to an end. We are using what (chemicals) we have now until new supplies come."

Asked why there was controversy over how the tender was finally awarded, Gwindi said: "I don't have anything to do with that and I don't discuss such issues."

Suburbs such as Hatcliffe, Hogerty Hill, Greendale, Msasa Park, Hatfield and Borrowdale Brook as well eastern areas of Mabvuku and Tafara have had erratic water supply for several weeks now.

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