Published on: 11/02/2008
Some residents in Harare have gone without water for more than three weeks while some areas of Bulawayo have experienced water cuts lasting more than five months.
Amid all this chaos, blame shifting has been the order of the day. Power cuts, unreliable water reticulation equipment and lack of chemicals have been blamed. The quality of tap water is also suspect. There has been in an increase in diarrhoea cases, which has been attributed to failure by the local city authority to provide clean water and collect refuse in residential areas. UNICEF was providing water tanks and water purification tablets in Harare suburbs affected by outbreaks of diarrhoea and also to Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, in the southeast of the country. The Minister for Water Resources and Infrastructural Development was interviewed on the water crisis in the country.
Source: Paul NyakazeyaMunacho Mutezo, Zimbabwe Independent (Harare), 25 Jan 2008
The water crisis is also forcing manufacturing companies in Harare to close down. Furthermore, Jane Mutasa, president of the Indigenous Business Women's Organisation (IBWO), claims that companies are also sending workers home because there is no water to flush the toilets. There were reports that some workers in industrial areas had resorted to the bush to relieve themselves because company toilets were sealed off because of lack of water. Other companies were said to be hiring mobile toilets.
Source: Dumisani Ndlela, Financial Gazette / allAfrica.com, 31 Jan 2008
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