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Harare
running dry, thanks to ZINWA bungling
Loreen
Mupasiri, Combined
Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
November 05, 2006
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/viewinfo.cfm?linkid=22&id=5177
WHEN the Combined Harare Residents’
Association condemned the inception of the Zimbabwe National Water
Authority (ZINWA) and its involvement in the water affairs of Harare,
Town House cried foul and accused the residents of unfairly demonising
the illegal commission.
ZINWA officials were invited to attend
the various residents associations’ meetings in different wards.
ZINWA gave promises of attendance, which they never fulfilled. We
thought it was possibly too early for us to criticise the water
body and decided to give it time to produce positive results. Today,
Harare is running dry, thanks to our "reputable" water body and
the inefficient commission.
When we take into consideration the
fact that ZINWA’s first move towards the improvement of water services
in Harare was to hike water rates to unbelievable and unreasonable
levels, one would expect the water situation in the city to have
improved by now.
The exorbitant rates imposed by ZINWA
and the commission running the City of Harare are ridiculous to
say the least. They are highly unjustified. The water services in
the city have worsened since the animal called ZINWA was given the
mandate to manage water.
Most residential areas in the city
have been without water for weeks. ZINWA was not even ashamed to
publish its timetable for water cuts. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
had to embark on a capital injection programme so as to save the
city from a situation brought about by ZINWA’s dismal failure to
improve water services in Harare.
One wonders where all the money from
the ratepayers has been going if ZINWA is failing to pay even for
the treatment of water let alone the maintenance of water infrastructure.
How can we be told that there is shortage
of water in Harare when the city is littered with numerous burst
pipes gushing treated water, which have been left unattended for
months. Water is being wasted through these burst pipes and residents
have been calling for Town House and ZINWA to attend to this problem
but the two have turned a deaf ear to the cries of the residents.
Whose fault is it then that water shortage is looming in Harare?
Residents should not suffer for the sins of ZINWA.
The unholy alliance between ZINWA and
Town House has brought untold suffering to residents. Living without
adequate water supplies is a health and environmental hazard and
if this problem is not solved as a matter of urgency, the city will
be plunged into an environmental crisis that threatens the lives
of its residents.
The performance of ZINWA has left a
lot to be desired. The overzealous water body has clearly demonstrated
its ineffectiveness and irrelevance in the management of water services
in Harare. Residents want water back because they paid for the service
and it is their basic right to receive continuous water supplies.
The fact that water is in short supply is not a problem of the residents
but ZINWA’s. All that residents want is continuous water supply.
Visit the CHRA
fact
sheet
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