Back to Index

Water cuts leave Harare dry
Alex Bell, SW Radio Africa
April 18, 2013

http://www.swradioafrica.com/2013/04/18/water-cuts-leave-harare-dry/

Water supply problems in and around central Harare have left residents and businesses without access to running water for almost a week, as the problems continue to dog the City Council.

The Council has been repeatedly blamed for allowing the water situation in the capital to keep deteriorating, with the authorities blaming old infrastructure and a lack of government funding to make the necessary repairs.

Intermittent water supply and sewage issues have been recurring problems for years, affecting the densely populated suburbs of Mbare, Glen View, Budiriro, Rugare, Sunningdale and others the worst.

For the past week, central Harare has also been hit by problems, resulting in some offices closing temporarily. State media reported Wednesday that people were queuing at available boreholes for several hours trying to get water, with only a minority of people able to afford to buy bottled water.

Other residents have started relying on self-dug wells to gain access to water. The Standard newspaper reported this week that well-digging has become the latest source of income for youths in Budiriro and Glen View. The newspaper reported that makeshift posters and billboards of youths advertising their well-digging skills were now a common phenomenon in most parts of Glen view and Budiriro suburbs.

The youths are reportedly charging up to US$150 to dig a 10m-deep well.

Harare Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda promised earlier this year that there would be an improved water supply ‘soon’, after meeting with South African municipal water authorities for advice.

“If everything goes according to plan, we should start seeing considerable improvement in the provision of potable water from March onwards,” Masunda said in February.

But two months later there is still no sign of improvement.

SW Radio Africa’s Harare correspondent Simon Muchemwa said the latest cuts started last Friday, and almost a week later, taps were still dry.

“The City Council hasn’t explained anything, but you will find that when the bills come, despite these cuts, the bills will stay the same. So people think that service delivery has really gone backwards,” Muchemwa reported.

SW Radio Africa is Zimbabwe's Independent Voice and broadcasts on Short Wave 4880 KHz in the 60m band.

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