Back to Index

Residents without water for three days
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
June 25, 2007

RESIDENTS of Glen View and Glen Norah have been without water for the past three days and there are fears there might be a disease outbreak if ZINWA and the City of Harare continued to ignore distress calls coming from there.

In separate interviews with CHRA, Tungamirai Madzokere, the Ward Coordinator for Ward 31 and Naome Kazingizi, a CHRA member in Glen Norah, both said they feared residents would contract diseases like cholera and dysentery if the situation remained as desperate.

Ms Kazingizi said Glen Norah residents have been fetching water from the dam between Glen Norah 'A' and 'B' since Friday, creating a fertile situation for cholera and dysentery outbreak.

'That dam receives most of its water from a stream originating from Highfield and imagine the burst sewerage from upstream," she said. "The ZINWA officials and the District Office have continued to ignore our reports and we do not know where to make our reports now."

Another resident Timothy Mufunga, the Ward 27 Coordinator, said he has failed to take a bath since Friday.

Mufunga said: "Our toilets have become no-go areas. The stench is too strong for comfort in our homes. Those women with children have nowhere to wash their napkins and the situation is so terrible. Promises to redress the situation have yielded no positive results."

Mr Madzokere, who is also the chairperson of the CHRA Welfare Committee, said people have been made frantic efforts to get a response from both the City of Harare and ZINWA without success.

He said: "There are queues emerging at Amalinda Plots where residents are fetching water from open water sources. Residents in Amalinda have no toilets and use the bush to relieve themselves.

He said teachers at Glen View 4 and 1 Primary Schools turned away their pupils due to acute water shortage and feared the continued presence of pupils at the school could create a health hazard.

Officials from the two affected primary schools were unavailable top comment on the latest crisis.

Since ZINWA was imposed on residents in urban centres, including Harare, citizens have experienced severe and long spells of water shortages, threatening the health of residents.

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP