…MURRA warns of impending action against council
Valentine Makufa
The water situation in Masvingo urban continues to be dire, as most areas are having dry taps, with those receiving it complaining that it is coming out with a brownish color.
A number of suburbs have been struggling to access water and have resorted to queuing at a few available boreholes.
Council were said to be in the process of repairing some pipes at Bushmead water works when taps went dry.
However when supplies resumed in some areas like Rujeko, Runyararo West and KMP, the water from the taps is dirty with a brownish color.
Contacted for comment on the water situation currently obtaining in the city, Town Clerk Engineer Edward Mukaratirwa denied the presence of dirty water running from taps saying samples supplied to him show that the water is clean.
“Where exactly did you get that information? There is no dirty water coming out of taps because we have been sending people to different locations to get samples every morning since Monday and there is no such crisis,” he said.
However people started getting dirty water after resumption of water supplies.
Masvingo United Residents and Ratepayers Association (MURRA) spokesperson Godfrey Mtimba said as a residents association they are not happy with the water situation in the city.
“As the biggest residents’ representative institution, we are actually appalled by the bad water situation in the city with regards to the quality and accessibility. We have endured almost a month receiving dirty water in our taps, the water is brownish and we fear for our health.
“We engaged the city fathers sometime back and they responded and promised to address the issue through a notice saying that their underground pipes had burst and even had a timeline of completing the exercise, but up to now we are still receiving dirty water so we no longer understand whether they are still doing maintenance work up to now, some areas are still not receiving water following the same challenge and they are relying on borehole water,” said Mtimba.
He also warned city council that MURRA will take unspecified action if they continuously fail to address the water challenge in the next seven days.
“As such we call upon council to address the water quality challenge as soon as possible as well as its provision. We want to warn council that if they fail to address this challenge over the next seven days, we will take action,” he added.
Masvingo Residents Forum (MRF) chairperson Brighton Ramusi said council has failed to put its residents first, rather they are spending money on unnecessary luxurious things.
“Water is a basic human right. Council has failed to prioritize water provision. Instead, council has prioritized the purchase of luxurious cars at the expense of the ratepayers. Water is overflowing at Lake Mutirikwi. There is no reasonable excuse not to provide clean water. It is unfortunate that council management has not been responsive to our demands,” said Ramusi.
Masvingo Service Delivery Residents and Ratepayers Association (MASDRRA) Secretary General Moses Mavhusa said council health officials should guarantee safe water and should also be answerable to the cases of dry taps.
“We are greatly concerned with the tap water being received in our city which possess an unfamiliar brownish color. We want health officials to guarantee our safety as residents. There are areas which are not receiving water and council must be answerable. How can we talk of an upper middle class economy by year 2030 if the services are so backward?” said Mavhusa.
Last year Masvingo council relieved former Engineer Tawanda Gozo alleging that he was incompetent in the water department as the local authority faced challenges in delivering clean water to residents.
The City Fathers were previously accused of pumping half-treated water sometime in February 2021 risking the health of residents.
