Back to Index

Another health crisis looms as Robinson House goes for three weeks without water
Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA)
May 04, 2010

The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) is deeply concerned with the unhygienic conditions that have obtained at Robinson House due to lack of water supplies in the building. Robinson House, which, is situated in the city's Central Business District at Corner Angwa Street and Kwame Nkrumah, has gone for more than three weeks without any water supplies; a situation that is threatening the health of the office occupants in the building.

The toilets in the building are producing a strong stench that has rendered the building a no go area for many people. The office tenants at the building have described the situation as a 'nightmare' saying that they have had to continue using the toilets even though there is no water. Tenants have also expressed concern at the reluctance of the City of Harare to timeously look into their plight as nothing has been done since a report was made to the city fathers about two weeks ago. The City of Harare has actually worsened the situation by disconnecting water to the building citing outstanding bills. Tenants who were interviewed by the CHRA Secretariat revealed that the City of Harare is well aware of the water problems that the building has been facing for the past four years. The building was actually temporarily closed by the City Health Department sometime in 2008 but lasting solutions to the water problems have not been found since.

The toilets are in such a bad state that some of the tenants have resorted to using the toilets at Angwa City; a situation that is also putting a strain on Angwa City. City of Harare has attributed the water shortages to the obsolete water pipes that supply water to Robinson House. However, no commitments were made as to when the situation will be rectified. The cleaners who were contracted by the owners of Robinson House are not doing their work properly as they only appear occasionally (sometimes after two weeks in a row) with small buckets of water to mop the corridors. The business operators indicated that they had communicated the problem to the caretaker, known as Mr Besa and he seemed not to have any solutions to the problem.

Robinson House is run by Knight Frank on behalf of Olshevik Investments Private Limited. The Estate agent in charge of issues at this building is Mr Masuku who is an employee of Knight Frank. Some tenants at the building who requested anonymity revealed that the Harare City Council had once tried to close down the building on the grounds that it was not safe for human use but some senior city officials were bribed by some of the business people at the building and it was re-opened.

CHRA calls on the City of Harare as well as the Knight Frank Company to urgently address the water situation at Robinson House before a serious health crisis surfaces. It should be remembered that Harare is already battling to contain other water borne diseases like typhoid and cholera and the last thing that residents need is another epidemic. The Association calls on the city fathers to prioritize disease prevention so as to protect the health of residents.

CHRA remains committed to advocating for good, transparent and accountable local governance as well as lobbying for quality and affordable municipal services on a non partisan basis.

Visit the CHRA fact sheet

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