Tinaani Nyabereka
Gweru- City council has called upon residents to play the social accountability role by reporting vandalism on water infrastructure as adequate supply of water is often disturbed by acts of vandalism.
Cases of vandalism have been on the rise in some parts of the Gweru as hooligans are reportedly vandalising main water pipes and tanks to irrigate their farms and plantations.
Speaking during a Gweru Residents and Ratepayers Association (GRRA)’s social accountability and service delivery engagement with residents on November 2, in Gweru, deputy mayor Cllr Cleopas Shiri said acts of vandalism on water property needs to be reported.
“I want you to know that water is a scarce resource even around the world. No country has enough water to cater for its people, hence there is need for people to preserve the precious liquid.
“So we call upon residents to report any case of vandalism on water infrastructure because sometimes we fail to pump adequate water as most property would have been destroyed,” said Shiri.
He further said council was spearheading the installation of kiosk boreholes to eradicate water challenges in the city.
“We are also spearheading the project of kiosk boreholes in our communities as water problems have greatly affected the wellbeing of residents. The project is set to start anytime soon and we want all communities to be well furnished with these facilities for easy accessibility to water.
“These boreholes are going to be manned by the residents themselves and we need them to be responsible in taking care of the facilities. The boreholes are going to serve people always and even generations to come,” added Shiri.
Buttressing on the aspect of active citizen participation in governance GRRA Programmes officer, Fadzai Kanyai urged young people to actively participate in service delivery issues saying citizen involvement was always a key pillar in development.
“We urge youths to actively participate in service delivery issues as active citizen involvement was good in idea sharing. We know youths are reluctant when it comes to governance issues as they feel excluded.
“As youths we feel we do not own anything because we do not have property, housing stands so we feel we do not have any responsibility hence we remain ignorant when it comes to issues of service provision. Whether we have something or not we need to have a sense of ownership because development comes for us. If we are not involved, no one will speak for us. We are the council, the ones who elect ward leaders to represent us, so they are our servants,” she said.
Gweru has in the recent past suffered acute water shortages owing to the old infrastructure resulting in persistent water pipe bursts.
