By Anesu Pedzisayi
The announcement by the MDC led Harare City Council (HCC), citing the closure of the Morton Jaffray water treatment plant, due to the shortage of water treatment chemicals, has revealed beyond reasonable doubt that MDC has failed in running local authorities, cheating citizens from proper service delivery requirements.
The closure of the water treatment plant has resulted in the whole of Harare Metropolitan town being cut off from receiving clean and safe water fit for human consumption. What is more disheartening to note is that HCC continues to preach that it was incapacitated, despite receiving $37,4 million as part of interventions to improve water access and treatment. In this instance, HCC has violated section 77 of the Constitution which guarantees that every person has a right to safe, clean and portable water.
More so, some suburbs, around Harare, including Mabvuku, Hatfield and Chitungwiza amongst other towns, have gone for years without accessing running water from their tapes. Over time, HCC has been subjecting Harare residents to diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera, in the process costing lives of ordinary citizens. If the current stand-off is not addressed, Zimbabwe should brace up for another cholera outbreak and disaster.
In 2018, close to 55 cholera deaths were recorded and over 10 000 cases suspected. The health of residents, over time, has been compromised and HCC has been failing to protect rate payers. Recently, The Herald reported that there had been a diarrhoea outbreak in some of Harare suburbs, including Dzivarasekwa and Warren Park, after residents had drunk contaminated water from a borehole.
HCC’s failures have not stopped piling up, considering that it has been drastically failing to keep Harare town clean. Uncollected litter, burst sewer pipes and ever flowing sewerage, is the order of the day in most suburbs around town. Disappointing also to note, is the Council’s failure to attend to burst water pipes, notably in the Central Business District, with gallons of water flowing into drainages, all to waste.
The HCC has proven over time, that it has misplaced priorities, as service provision comes last on its to do list. Sometime back, reports showed that the Council splurged US$23 000 on Councillors’ iPads. Interestingly at that same period, Council was failing to pay its workers, owing up to US$40 000. The irony of it was that barely half of these Councillors knew how to operate an iPad. HCC also chose to sponsor a football club, Harare City, at a time when it could not afford to pay its own workers, resulting in another show of misplaced priorities.
As a service provider, HCC has shown that it has no capacity to provide for its citizens by failing to sustain a consistent and efficient service delivery system. There is need for several interventions, aimed at putting an end Council’s mismanagement racket.
Council has been accusing resident and companies for sabotaging its works, through non-payment of rates. One then would ask; what happened to the implementation of pre-paid meters? Why not simply cut of those who are failing to service their debts? Also this would encourage citizens and companies to use water rationally and responsibly.
HCC should also consider looking into alternative sources for the chemicals, locally. Zimbabwe has local Universities that are now hubs of innovation, where HCC can partner with these and consider looking into home grown solutions that can produce water treatment and purification chemicals. A viable example that can be noted is that of Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) that collaborated with the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to jointly fund research into the development, manufacturing and testing of transformers and related components. HCC could do the same, looking into areas relevant to its operations as a service provider.
There is need for HCC to look for strategic private partners, who would invest in infrastructure development, basic service delivery provision and water purification amongst other key areas. These can be local and may extend to external stakeholders, who can work towards addressing other pertinent issues such as refuse collection, litter disposal, replacement of old water pipes, cleaning of drainage systems amongst other issues.
Government, under President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s initiative, launched the clean-up campaign, held every first Friday of the month, across all towns. The initiative has gone a long way in litter disposal and keeping the environment clean in Zimbabwe. HCC may also ride on this initiative and signpost strategic partners who may adopt certain parts of Harare town and or suburbs and make sure they are cleaned and maintained properly all year round.
Provision of clean and safe water should be of key concern to Government and key strategic partners as it can easily turn into a catastrophe. Corruption, mismanagement of funds, and misappropriation of funds are vices that HCC has to address as a matter of urgency. Prevention of a disaster is pertinent at the moment, before the country faces cholera and diarrhoea outbreak. It is high time MDC admits failure in running HCC and extends invitation for assistance, so as to save lives.
