Brighton Chiseva
MASVINGO – Masvingo Registry Office which deals with the issuance of passports and birth certificates which torched a media storm in 2018 after the office keys were stolen is at again this time with more than 100 men and women including some from five other government departments are sharing a single toilet.
Though no official confirmation could be obtained on the development, TellZim News has it on good authority that the complex which houses the provincial registry offices, labor, women affairs department, provincial war veterans offices, education, justice and legal affairs, attorney general and the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services offices has only one functioning toilet.
The Provincial registrar Sithembeni Chitsa could neither confirm nor deny as she said she was not at the office and referred questions to the ministry of public works saying they were the owners of the complex.
“You need to get in touch with the Department of Public works, they are the ones responsible for those buildings. Currently I am not at office, I am in Mwenezi so I cannot comment since I am not on the ground,” said Chitsa
However, the latest development is that three are not functional forcing all the people in those government departments to share a single toilet from the male side.
Sources said they have devised a plan where men use the urinary side while women use the toilet seat. However, if a man wants to poop, he is forced to use the toilet seat again, a development that is causing a lot of confusion .
“Imagine you are pressed and you want to relieve yourself, you get to the toilet only to be told to wait as there is someone in the toilet, the situation is unbearable and authorities are failing to address the situation,” said one source
Another source said the situation had more than a week and people from the department of public works which should fix the problem are reluctant to do so.
“Its more than a week now, and people from the department of public works were notified but they are not coming. I have resorted to using the bathroom in the morning at home and in the evening. In cases of emergency I would go to other complexes where friends work to relieve myself,” said the source.
Repeated efforts to get a comment from Public works were futile as a number of people who work there were saying they were not allowed to speak to the media.
The provincial passport office is not issuing passports after having been stopped when the E-Passport was introduced.
