By Beverly Bizeki
Residents in some parts of Bikita District, Ward 9 have gone for months with dry taps due to blockages in some pipelines connecting to the dam, which is their main source.
Sources who spoke to this publication said some areas in Ward 9 have gone for more than six months without tapped water due to blockages resulting in people overwhelming the school borehole.
“The situation is unbearable and heart-rending. People are suffering. The challenge is that there is no water in the central township and surrounding houses. Dozens of people rely on a borehole at Vushe Primary School, some 800 metres from the township,” said a source.
Ward 9 councilor Surprise Pembere confirmed the ordeal and said he had engaged the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) over the matter and they had promised to address the issue promising him that by next week Wednesday (May 15) services will be restored.
“It has been more than six months without water in some sections. It was brought to my attention last month and I have been engaging ZINWA. They managed to fix blockages and pipe breakdowns tracing the line. Now they are at the tank and I have been assured by next week Wednesday there will be water everywhere. It is a dire situation. Local ZINWA has enlisted regional services and I have spoken to regional engineer,” said Pembere.
Bikita Residents and Ratepayers Association (BIRRA) Spokesperson Lucky Mukomondera said they had been notified about the situation and said there was need to capacitate the responsible authority to enable them to respond to challenges quickly.
“We are informed that council has been assured that the issue will be solved by this coming Wednesday. ZINWA is said to be tracing the whole line since there have been blockages all along. BIRRA has made a follow-up through Cllr Pembere who assured us that all is being done to restore water in Ward 9 area that covers Police and Scomption areas. As residents we still feel much should be done to capacitate ZINWA as most times they take long to attend to the water challenges in Bikita. Water is life and the right cannot be contested.
“Our engagement with ZINWA has exposed that they are failing to find the real problem affecting water flow to the affected areas. ZINWA promised to track the 19.4km pipeline from the dam but it is taking long,” said Mukomondera.
Efforts to get a comment from ZINWA at the time of reporting were fruitless as Masvingo Provincial Spokesperson Obert Muchena said he was waiting for his boss’s approval to give responses.
