By Kudakwashe Vhenge
Residents from Glenview have expressed their appreciation over the construction of solar powered boreholes provided by non-government organizations who are partnering Harare City Council in helping to alleviate water shortages hard hitting most suburbs in Harare.
This was revealed during a community talk program dubbed Hurukuro Pachibhorani that has been initiated by Community Water Alliance (CWA) which commenced at Glenview one shops on Tuesday.
Glenview District Officer Kudakwashe Mupingashato thanked non-governmental organizations who mobilized resources for the construction of a state of the art boreholes which has brought relief to most residents in the district.
“I would like to thank Oxfam, UNICEF, and EU’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection for building this solar powered borehole that has helped a lot of residence in my District. This has helped residence who are facing serious water shortages as a result of dry taps that are being experienced by residence,” he said.
Mupingashato also thanked Community Water Alliance a civic organization that does advocacy on water governance issues for ensuring the control of boreholes through Water Point Users Committee (WPUC) representatives and recommended more community shareholder engagements.
CWA national coordinator Hardlife Mudzingwa highlighted that the purpose of the community talk is to impart a sense of entitlement of the solar-powered boreholes to the members of the community so that there is no vandalism and theft.
“Today we are doing what we call ‘Hururkuro Patsime” where we intend to give knowledge to residents about the best practices on management and distribution of water at such facilities. This they must do through a locally elected committee of Water Point Users Committee (WPUC) which will be responsible for the distribution, security and management of this infrastructure.
“We are also dialoging on critical issues such as Covid-19, prevention protocols such as social distancing and wearing of facemasks, regular handwashing under running water for purposes of ensuring that we do not contaminate people at this public water point” he added.
The exercise which is being broadcasted live on Zimpapers Radio Station’s Star FM will continue at Kodzerohutano Water Point and Masimbaevanhu Waterpoint on Wednesday and Thursday respectively
Access to clean, potable, affordable water which is essential for maintaining individual and public health especially in these times of the global pandemic Covid-19 has remained a challenge for most Harare residents with the local authority citing a lot of challenges.
In September, Harare Deputy Mayor Enock Mupamawonde called on the government to declare the water shortage a national disaster, saying the local authority needs at least 40 million Zimbabwean dollars ($2m) a month for water chemicals. The municipality takes in only 15 million Zimbabwean dollars in revenue each month.
