By Staff writer
GWERU residents on Monday declared the water crisis in the Midlands capital as a state of emergency and called on central government to intervene.
This comes as the Gweru City Council (GCC) has failed to provide water to its residents for close to two weeks now owing to a 600mm burst pipe at Gwenoro dam.
The water situation in the city of progress has become so acute with most parts of the city’s suburbs running dry, prompting residents to declare the situation a state of emergency.
Gweru residents and ratepayers association (GRRA) in conjunction with the Gweru residents forum held a joint press conference where they berated the way council is operating.
“It is saddening to note that poor service delivery by GCC is forcing residents to resort to unsafe water sources exposing those residents to waterborne diseases,” GRRA executive director Cornelia Selipiwe told the media.
“…today the residents of this city declare the water situation a state of emergency and request that the ministry of local government and public works and the minister of state for Midlands to intervene,” he added.
Gweru residents forum director, Charles Mazorodze, who was also in attendance echoed Selipiwe’s concerns.
He noted that the water crisis in Gweru had reached a point where the local authority cannot address the problem on its own and requires external forces to chip in.
“The current water situation in the city has reached alarming level, it’s a serious crisis we have at this point and it requires other stakeholders to come in and assist..at this point I think it is time for the city to reconfigure how they disseminate information on their water schedule,” Mazorodze noted.
However, GCC in a public notice on Monday said its workforce was on the ground working on the burst pipe. The local authority projected work to be complete by this Wednesday.
“We are dewatering and excavating hence, we might finish maintenance and repairs on Wednesday 15 November 2023,” read the public notice.
But Selipiwe feels this is all talk, as the local authority has no capacity to resolve the challenge on its own and believes government intervention can only save the residents.
“So if the government intervenes then it means more players will come in, even private players will come in,” Selipiwe said.
“What we have at the moment is the local authority purporting to be on top of the situation when we have gone for two weeks without water. What we need is the government to come in and help with resources, also the minister of state to help in resource mobilizing.”
In the past, some parts of Gweru were affected by a thypoid outbreak due to the unresolved water challenges resulting in several people losing their lives while many others were hospitalized.
Most recently, Mkoba Teachers College was hit with a diarrheal outbreak that affected over 400 people at the educational facility and the unavailability of water has continued to expose residents to diseases.
