…Masvingo apologises for discoloured water mess

TellZim Reporter

City of Masvingo has responded to
reports that one of their employees in the Engineering Department mishandled
its tank and pipe cleaning exercise leading to the recent pumping of near sludge
water to households, TellZim can report.

In a public notice dated January
28, 2021, the city promised that it was addressing the source of the problem
but stopped short of disclosing finer details.

“The City of Masvingo regrets the
supply of discoloured tap water which is brownish in colour. We are in the
process of addressing the source of the problem and we trust we will be through
by Sunday morning the 31^st of January 2021.

“Any inconvenience caused is
deeply regretted,” the city communicated.

The notice followed an earlier
report by TellZim to the effect that the muddy water was a result of a maintenance
work debacle at the main reservoirs above Target Kopje when a staff member ‘mistakenly’
released clean water into a tank which was still getting cleaned.

To avoid enormous losses, the
water, which had gathered a lot of grit and mud, was pumped into households,
leading to the consumption of water of most probably the worst quality ever
seen in the history of the city.

“There was a mistake when water
was opened into one of the reserve tanks before the cleaning work had been
completed. This is the water which was coming out of the taps during the past
week,” a source told TellZim.

The initial story can be read on this link.

https://tellzim.com/2021/01/sludge-in-taps.html

… Msv
tanks, pipes cleaning gone wrong

Wayne
Ncube

Very
poor-quality water like never seen before began coming out of taps in Masvingo
this week after council announced a rare cleaning exercise at the city’s water reservoirs
and some supply pipes.

In many
suburbs, extremely dirty water which was filled with sludge and unfit even for
laundry came out of the taps for four days.

Some
sources privy to the cleaning exercise told TellZim News that a council
employee had either mistakenly or negligently let thousands of litres of clean
water into one of the tanks which was still being cleaned, and council was left
with no option but to pump the sludge into homes to avoid losses.

City of
Masvingo announced that it was going to clean the water reservoirs over Target
Kopje suburb, and the main supply pipes from the Bushmead Water Works in order
to boost water quality but little did residents know that they were to grapple
with sludge coming out of their taps.

A
source from the city council said water was pumped into one of the tanks before
the cleaning exercise had been completed.

“There
was a mistake when water was opened into one of the reserve tanks before the
cleaning work had been completed. This is the water which was coming out of the
taps during the past week,” said the source.

City of
Masvingo engineer Tawanda Gozo said he had expected the quality of water to
revert back to normalcy much earlier than what was reported to have happened in
such suburbs as Rujeko C.

“We
recently cleaned our main water pipes from Bushmead Water Works and the reserve
tanks to improve water quality.

“We
have received reports that in some areas extremely dirty water was coming out
from the taps but that was most probably due to the normal cleaning exercise.

“The
water quality should have improved earlier and I am surprised to be told that
it is a different case in some places. We are ready to investigate,” said Gozo.

Masvingo’s
daily water demand has risen to about 50 megalitres a day while the council has
a pumping capacity of around 30 megalitres.

The
city is struggling to give consistent water supplies and this has made basic home
hygiene more difficult at a time when Covid-19 infections

Margaret Kamwemvura’s destroyed house

Cephas Shava

MWENEZI – A 60-year-old widow is appealing for any form of
assistance after her house was recently gutted by fire which destroyed all her
meagre assets, TellZim News can report.

Margaret Kamwemvura, of village
10 Liburgia under Chief Neshuro, lost her belongings on January 25 after a
cellphone which was on charge exploded and sparked an inferno which consumed
the house.

A teary Kamwemvura told TellZim that
the devastating accident occurred when she had left the homestead to work on
the fields.

“One of my sons left his
phone charging with a universal charger so it seems the battery exploded and
caused the fire. We had left home for the fields when the accident occurred and
we were only alerted about the fire after we had seen thick smoke blowing from the
direction of our homestead.

“We then got home to find that
everything had been destroyed and nothing was recovered including my cellphone
which I had left inside the house,” said Kamwemvura.

The elderly woman and her family had
to spend the night at a relative’s place and she has begun appealing for assistance
from government and well-wishers.

“All our entire belongings
were destroyed as this was our only house that sheltered everything for us. We
are only left with the clothes on our bodies and nothing else,” added
Kamwemvura.

Kamwemvura lives with her two
unemployed sons and she can be contacted on her grandchild Prince Hove’s mobile
number 0777111013.

Clayton Shereni

MASVINGO –
Though correctional facilities in the country have come up with measures to
limit prison visits to outsiders as a preventive measure against the novel
coronavirus, the pandemic seems to have found its way into the ‘over crowded’
Mutimurefu prison cells where latest tests show that 78 inmates have tested
positive to Covid-19.

Masvingo
provincial Covid-19 taskforce spokesperson, Rodgers Irimayi, said contrary to
some claims that 110 inmates at Mutimurefu prison had tested positive to the
virus, only 78 cases had been recorded with isolation procedures having been
put in place to curb the spread.

“So
far recorded positive cases at Mutimurefu prison stand at 78 only as at January
27. I don’t know where the inflated figures are coming from. There are reports
that 110 inmates had tested positive to Covid-19 but that is not true.

“I
even called officials at Mutimurefu today (January 27) and the cases haven’t
increased. The 78 are all inmates and they are isolating with the help of
prison health officers,” said Irimayi.

Zimbabwe
Prisons Correctional Services (ZPCS) Masvingo Public Relations Officer,
Stanslous Sanike said there are cells specifically designated for inmates who
test positive to the virus.

“We
have tested quite a number of inmates and those that have tested positive are
isolating and being treated as per symptom in cells which have been
specifically reserved for Covid-19 cases.

“In
Chiredzi we also have an isolation centre for inmates who test positive,” said
Sanike.

Commenting
on the issue of dealing with severe cases and overcrowded cells, Sanike said
they work in liaison with health officials but declined to reveal the total
number of inmates citing security reasons.

“If
we record a severe case we will always liaise with hospitals through the
Provincial Medical Director (PMD) but we are yet to record a severe case where
a patient needs oxygen support.

“As
for the capacity and the total number of inmates who are currently at
Mutimurefu, I am not authorized to give you the figures for security reasons
but prisoners are not overcrowded in cells,” said Sanike. 

Mutimurefu
prison has a capacity of 800 inmates but is reportedly accommodating inmates
who surpass its carrying capacity.

Chief Neshuro

 Maryline Katenjele

MWENEZI- Villagers from the Hume
area in Rutenga are up in arms with Chief Neshuro, born Rodwell Gudo, whom they
accuse of parceling out their grazing lands to home seekers.

Villagers
say that their livestock will soon have no grazing lands as much of the
reserved land was being sold to the highest bidder.

Chief
Neshuro denied the allegations saying no grazing land has ever been sold and
people should not soil his name.

“Why
should we destroy our grazing lands? Here in Mwenezi we have a huge herd and if
we do not leave the grazing lands what will happen to that herd?

“I have
never sold any land and I was at one point approached by officials from the
ministry of lands who wanted to allocate land to their people and I told them
to engage my village heads.

“As far
as I am concerned, we have not given any land to anyone and there has been no
pegging on our grazing lands,” said Chief Neshuro.

Village
head Taurai Chikweza confirmed that there was a dispute between home seekers,
who are encroaching grazing lands, and villagers saying they once sought
recourse from the ministry of lands.

“The
land which has been reserved for our domestic animals to graze was recently
pegged for some home seekers.

“We
engaged the district lands office over the issue but they could not give us an
ear as the people who did the pegging claimed they were acting above board,”
said Chikweza.

Sources
said that Chief Neshuro, through his headman one Dzingai Makurirofa of Sonop
Ranch, was facilitating the pegging of the grazing lands.

“As has
become the norm here under Chief Neshuro’s area of jurisdiction, the land is not
given free of charge. One has to either part with his cash or some beasts in
order to acquire land.

“This
was the case with the would-be beneficiaries of the grazing land of 7B in
Rutenga West.

“The
Chief was paid by the would-be beneficiaries and headman Makurirofa is the one
who is facilitating all this,” said the source.

Sergeant Mavhuni with the dead lion

Blessed Mandaza

TRIANGLE–
Tongaat Hulett Zimbabwe (THZ) recently hired a professional hunter to help its
Game Rangers track a marauding stray lion which was first spotted on January 15, 2020.

Its
spoor was tracked from Section 8 right into Triangle’s business centre before
being shot at sugarcane Plot 1801 of Section 26.

Workers
and villagers in Triangle had been living in fear of the king of the jungle
since January 15, with others speculating that it was a ruse by the sugar
company which was meant to scare people from unnecessary movements in light of
the spread of coronavirus.

According
to a memo dated January 15, 2020, THZ game rangers spotted a lion spoor which they
tracked from Section 8 all the way to Duly’s Shopping Centre.

The
spoor disappeared into the hill adjacent to BancABC and the recently opened
Gain Supermarket.

“Employees
and all members of the community are strongly advised to keep away from the hill
and avoid unnecessary outdoor movement on foot within the Triangle Area until the
animal has been accounted for,” read the memo

Since
then, THZ Game Rangers led by one Sergeant Mavhuni have been tracking the lion
which had already killed four cows from the community.

After
failure to track the predator due to incessant rains, the company hired a
professional hunter who took less than 24 hours to track and contain the
predator at around 1900hours in a cane field.

According
to source, the hunter had no intention to kill the lion but feared could lose
track of it because of continuous rains.

“The
lion was killed at around 1900hours at plot number 1801 of section 26. They
feared to lose track of it due to rains so they decided to kill it before it could
take any human life,” said a source.

Last
year, THZ game rangers, in partnership with Malilangwe Conservancy Trust
scouts, managed to drive back a male lion which had broken lose from the
conservancy into Hippo Valley Estates.