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No tests for Harare water as workers strike
Caiphas Chimhete, The Standard (Zimbabwe)
February 10, 2008

http://www.thestandard.co.zw/viewinfo.cfm?linkid=11&id=8300&siteid=1

Effluent into Harare's water bodies and drinking water has not been "independently tested" for the past week after Environmental Management Agency (EMA) workers downed tools over better pay last Tuesday.

The Standard was told this posed great danger to Harare residents drinking water from the taps..

EMA monitors effluent discharged into the country water bodies as well as conducting verification tests on the quality of drinking water.

EMA workers said the strike had compromised the quality of Harare's drinking water as discharges into water bodies were not being monitored. Several companies have been fined for polluting the city's water supplies.

A laboratory technician with EMA, who requested anonymity, said the situation had been aggravated by Harare council's serious shortage of chemicals to treat drinking water.

"Zinwa purifies and does its own tests," said a laboratory technician with EMA. "As EMA we do our own independent verification of the water because there is no way Zinwa can tell residents that the water is not clean, when they are the culprits."

There are fears there could be an outbreak of water-borne diseases because EMA is not monitoring companies and individuals discharging effluent into the city's water system.

Last year, Harare was hit by an outbreak of cholera and diarrhoea, which killed over 10 people.

Another technician said there were times when their verification process established that water brought for testing by Zinwa had been declared "unclean".

"There are times when they send to us unclean water and our results have confirmed this," he said.

Zinwa public relations manager, Marjorie Manyonga, dismissed the workers' claims., saying Zinwa and the council's health department always monitored and tested the quality of drinking water in the city.

"I can assure you the water is clean and safe for drinking," she said. "The agency only monitors discharges into water bodies."

EMA tests water from rivers, dams and drinking water at a laboratory at Zinwa complex at KGIV in Harare. It was the national quality laboratory before it was put under EMA last year.

The workers went on strike after management failed to honour an arbitration award reached between EMA management and employees, represented by Gibson Mushunje of the Zimbabwe Electricity and Energy Workers Union (ZEWU) on 3 January.

The award gave the least paid worker about $30 million a month backed-dated to last October.

"Bearing in mind that the adjustment is for October, November and December 2007, when the known poverty datum line (PDL) for October 2007 was around $26 million, an adjustment of the rate for the least paid grade from $4 501 000 to $27 million a month for October and $30 million a month for November and December 2007 would be fair and reasonable adjustments," reads the award signed by an independent arbitrator, Mr N. Mukwehwa.

The lowest paid worker at EMA, which falls under the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, is paid $4,5 million a month.

Mushunje said it was criminal for the ministry to pay "slave salaries" to its workers.

"This money is not even enough for a single trip to work. This is criminal," said Mushunje.

Environment and Tourism Minister Francis Nhema could not be reached for comment.

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