No water, no electricity for Chitungwiza
People queuing for water, and carts carrying firewood, are now an everyday sight in the town of Chitungwiza. Chitungwiza gets the bulk of its water supply from the City of Harare but with the recent erratic water supply experienced by the capital city, a negative and severe impact can now be felt by the residents of Chitungwiza. Clean water, which is a basic necessity for everyone, is now a luxury for some residents. People have had to resort to digging shallow wells after going for weeks, if not months, without running water. Residents now fear that the cholera pandemic, which caused havoc in 2008, is set to come back if the city fathers of Chitungwiza take their time getting their act together to resolve their differences with the City of Harare. To ease the burden a bit, UNICEF in conjunction with some NGOs, managed to drill a few boreholes in the town but since the demand for water has risen sharply, only a few can access clean water from the water-points.
To make matters worse, the pathetic electricity supply from Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority has created a scenario, which leaves one wondering if Chitungwiza is a town or rural area. Residents now resort to using firewood. Others, who can afford it, use gas or paraffin. Customer satisfaction from ZESA is now a thing of the past as residents only get electricity supply during the night or for less than 8 hours per day. No explanation or apologies for the inconvenience caused is given and the only thank you residents get is disconnection for non-payment and tariff hikes. During the Zim dollar era Chitungwiza Town Council and ZESA used to hide behind the forex shortage to cover up for their service delivery shortcomings. However now that forex is in abundance, clear signs of incompetence and poor administration are evident.
Wednesday, September 7th 2011 at 4:09 pm
You can say that again. Its as good as there is no electricity in chitungwiza. This is too much.
Thursday, September 8th 2011 at 1:55 pm
Less complains and more action is needed if we are to transcend the blame game politics that has characterised service delivery politics in Chitown. Obviously our leaders are not concerned about our welfare but are busy extracting benefits which are within reach of their official positions. Today’s headline in the Newsday sums it all! Mayor and Deputy Mayor in near fistfight because the deputy did not get his official car!Lets mobilise residents to stop paying water and electricity bills until such a time when service is fully restored!
Friday, September 9th 2011 at 1:21 am
I shuttle between Chitungwiza and Harare daily. I guess this problem is not confined to Chitungwiza alone. The threat of disease outbreak might just be national.