…as councillor suggests they could improve water situation
Emmanuel Chitsika
The boreholes that were drilled in Masvingo Urban’s wards 3, 4, 5 and 7 in the run-up to the March 26 by-elections continue to be a recurrent tool of use in the political arena with the ruling Zanu PF manipulating the situation.
During a full council meeting held at Masvingo Civic Centre on August 4, deputy Mayor Wellington Mahwende said council should not worry over the water situation in the city with the summer season already underway as those boreholes lying idle could be used to lessen the burden.
Mahwende went on to say fellow councillors have no reason to crack heads over the perennial challenge as what is needed is for them (Zanu PF councillors) to approach their political leadership to hand over boreholes to council for use.
“There is no need for council to crack heads over this issue of boreholes lying idle in the wards after being drilled and council should not refer back the matter to committee in charge. What is needed is just for us to approach government who are the ones responsible for the drilling of those boreholes to finish off what they started.
“If you look at Rujeko C (Jazire shopping centre) there is a borehole and the plan is to solarize it before it functions. So we are going back to tell them that for us (Zanu PF) not to be a laughing stock, let us go and finish the projects we started.
“If we just tell them to finish up the works we started, be rest assured that they would finish up and residents would benefit a lot,” said Mahwende.
His response was to the issue raised by Masvingo Mayor Collen Maboke who had proposed the issue of water situation security be referred to committee for further deliberations.
“I think the issue needs to be referred back to the committee because right now we haven’t received the boreholes as no one has bothered to officially hand them over to council. From there on we can plan the way forward, as of now we do not even know if they are actual boreholes or not,” Maboke sarcastically said.
Acting Town Engineer Kudzaishe Mbetu promised that the water situation would be normal though there would be a slight reduction in the number of hours residents would get the precious liquid.
“Right now we are busy working on water infrastructure so that we can rectify all leakages that may cause or promote water shortages so that supplies remain constant during the summer.
“We are not prepared to embark on water rationing because the moment we do so some of our pipes may burst as a result so our aim is to always keep them saturated.
“We are going to maintain what we have been doing all along and there should be no need to ration water,” said Mbetu.
The boreholes whose drilling raised a lot of questions than answers have triggered debate among residents as far as the footing of the costs are concerned.
However, they were later abandoned after Zanu PF candidates who had used them for campaigning purposes performed dismally losing the four wards to rival Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).
Speculation is rife that the boreholes are likely to be utilized for campaign purposes during the run up to 2023 elections.
Zanu PF has often been accused of using government resources like food, farming inputs among others to further party interests during election periods.
