27 October 2008
Harare — Rodgers Matsikidze, a human rights lawyer and resident of Budiriro, a high-density suburb in the capital Harare, told IRIN that persistent sewer pipe bursts had exposed the community to disease, especially cholera.
"Our dilemma is that we have not had running water for close to a month. In addition we had sewer pipes bursting, resulting in untreated effluent flooding most parts of the community. As you can obviously tell, there is an unpleasant smell in the air.
"As to be expected, many residents have dug shallow wells to try and access clean water. The danger is that sewage is seeping into the shallow wells, and with the rains that have been falling, the result could be an outbreak that could be difficult if not impossible to control.
"Right now every home has members who are suffering from diarrhoea. Children are also at great risk, as they are exposed to sewage effluent while playing in the streets."
He said reporting burst sewerage pipes to the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA), the water parastatal, never elicited any action.
"When we reported that we had not received water for a long time, the ZINWA people said they were surprised because they assumed we had water. When we told them about the sewer bursts, they said they had not been vaccinated against typhoid to enable them to attend to the sewer bursts.
"According to the Water Act, ZINWA has exclusive rights to sewer and water and that means we can not hire private contractors to attend to our problem.
"When you add water shortages, sewage pipe bursts, electricity cuts, food shortages then you realise the kind of hardships that people are going through in the different communities."
Matsikidze said many residents were being forced to buy clean water from suburbs with water supplies. "Instead of money, we can barter sugar or soap for a bucket of water."
"Of course, there is a lot that can be done and we are working on a class action against the Zimbabwe National Water Authority. To start with, ZINWA is failing to keep its end of the bargain by not supplying clean water when residents are paying rates," Matsikidze commented.
"By not tackling these issues, they are threatening the existence of the community because people have died of cholera, while others have fallen sick. We are seeking to compel the authority to provide services which we have paid for without delivery," he said.
"If they cannot provide the services which we require, then we will seek to have services such as water distribution and sewer management handed back to local authorities, which used to do a very good job."
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2008 UN Integrated Regional Information Networks. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
Elder, I agree with you about the current state of Zimbabwean cities and the infrastrature. Everything in Zimbabwe is going down and SADC leaders need to also start talking about that. There is no safe water to drink, shortage of money, empty supermarkets, and increasing bad roads. Just for how long will Zimbabweans tolerate Mugabe and his criminal activities.
Arrogance at its height, symptomatic of a regime imposing itself on a population and lacking all accountability. Elder has been around long enough to know of and experience very strong stench of sewage in Budiriro for at least the past five years. Chitungwiza has been sewage town for decades now. Manyame river on Masvingo road - would the SADC leaders drive over this bridge please in a CMED bus and stop by to get a look at the raw sewage flowing towards lack Chivero before returning to their homes. That would give them a good story to tell their families back home. Where is Chombo?