Tinaani Nyabereka
Gweru- City council has channeled half of this year’s ZW$4.1 billion budget towards the rehabilitation of the city’s water works as part of efforts to improve water provision, an area that has troubled the city of progress of late.
Recently a donor, Welt Hunger Life chipped in with solar powered boreholes to ease the burden of water in various suburbs of Gweru.
Presenting the budget breakdown last week during an online engagement hosted by Gweru United Progressive Residents and Ratepayers Development Association (GUPRARDA), Gweru council acting Director of finance Owen Masimba confirmed that 50percent of the budget had been channeled towards the city’s water and sanitation.
He said plans are underway to revive the water reservoirs in Kopje for emergence use.
“The issue of our water tanks in Kopje is one of the plans which council is working on under the recently approved budget. The tanks need to be cleaned, at some point we attempted to clean them so that we store water. I am sure when things are in place, you will see them being revived because we are working towards boosting our pumps at Gwenhoro so that we can fill the tanks.
“Bulk of the budget has been channeled towards the city’s water system rehabilitation. The tanks are part of this rehabilitation exercise as we want to create a buffer such that if electricity is switched off, our tanks will be having water to supply residents for two to three days,” said Masimba.
Outlining the nature of the budget, Masimba said the 2022 budget was a pro-poor one.
“Our budget is a gender responsive one because there are policies, procedures and terms which inculcates gender perspectives. We also have provisions which cater for the allocation of stands to the disabled, women and orphans. Our budget mainly focus on issues which affect women and children because most of their time is spent at boreholes and wells looking for water,” Masimba said.
Gweru deputy Mayor Cleopas Shiri said the budget was aimed at revamping the city to its original status.
“There are two fundamental issues that we need to take note of: the first issue is that as residents, we also need to play our part in fulfilling the Gweru budget while the second is that our budget might be affected by inflation.
“When the budget was crafted the exchange rate was US$1 as to ZW$85, and by the time the budget got approved the exchange rate was already US$1 as to ZW$110-115. The public needs to note that the gap will obviously affect our budget performance,” said Shiri.
Meanwhile council finance committee chairperson, Martin Chivhoko urged resident associations to engage the community on bill payments.
“We urge residents to play their part by paying their bills so that council provide services efficiently. I want to encourage resident groups to keep on engaging their various constituencies on the importance of servicing bills,” Chivhoko urged.
Mkoba resident Lewis Kuchineyi however said the local authority was failing to prioritize water as a service.
“It is sad to note that our local authority never prioritizes the issue of water provision. It remains in the periphery as it has always been. We wait to see how the budget will improve water supply as some areas have gone for years without water,” he added.
Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) social and justice ambassador, Gracia Mashingaidze said water supply in the city was still a nightmare.
“We still have a crisis when it comes to water. Gweru city council has been failing to provide water consistently for years now.
“Channeling the budget towards water system revamps shows that the budget is indeed gender responsive and we appreciate this as women. This has been the case even in the previous budget where half of the devolution fund was channeled towards water rehabilitation but still we face the same problems. Having a budget is one thing, implementation is another,” said Mashingaidze.
National Association of Non-Governmental Organisation (NANGO) Midlands Chapter coordinator Titus Mangoma said as Civic Society Organisations (CSOs), they were going to monitor the exercise.
“As you know the water situation in our city has reached another level as some areas can get water for two days, some one day and some nothing at all especially in areas like Mkoba 19 and 20 due to the water rationing schedule.
“We greatly welcome the move but we want to assess the results of the revamping exercise because water is one of the fundamental rights that are enshrined in section 77 of the country’s constitution. More so, council need to improve in terms of civic engagements as the budget needs to be people-driven in order to address the needs of the people,” he said.
