adminKWEKWE and Redcliff residents are at loggerheads with the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) for sporadically disconnecting the city of Kwekwe and Redcliff town, a development that has seen residents resorting to unclean water sources.
Last week, residents handed petitions to Kwekwe and Redcliff municipalities, Zinwa and New ZimSteel demanding that these parties that are part of the water supply chain urgently address the water crisis.
In the petition, residents demanded that all parties in the water supply chain must immediately restore water supplies to Kwekwe and Redcliff.
“Zinwa must stop disconnecting water in the future since this is totally unacceptable and constitutes a violation of human rights. The City of Kwekwe must stop forthwith water disconnections against the municipality of Redcliff.
“Water disconnections done by the Redcliff and Kwekwe municipalities should be discontinued considering that water is a human right that should be enjoyed by all human beings,” reads part of the petition.
The residents also demanded the immediate resignation of top management and council in the event they fail to resolve the perennial water challenges faced by the two municipalities.
“The water crisis facing the two towns should be resolved, failure of which the leadership of both towns should resign without any further notice,” reads the petition.
The petition was submitted by the Coalition for Improved Water and Sanitation Service Delivery, which comprises Torwood, Redcliff, Rutendo residents, Redcliff Ratepayers Association, Kwekwe residents and Kwekwe Ratepayers Association, Kwekwe Association for Small to Medium Enterprises, Zimbabwe Human Rights Association, Kwekwe Anti-corruption and Service Delivery Monitoring Voluntary Action Group, and Anti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa.
Mr Alex Homela, president of Kwekwe Residents and Ratepayers Association said residents would take remedial action if their concerns were not immediately addressed.
He threatened the two municipalities with unspecified action.
“The municipalities must not neglect people’s demands. Doing so might result in anger being manifested in different forms,” he said.
Mr Clettos Mushauri, president of Torwood, Redcliff and Rutendo Residents and Ratepayers Association said there was a need for the municipalities and Zinwa to find a lasting solution to the perennial water problems bedevilling the two towns.
Zinwa recently disconnected the two municipalities, a development which saw Kwekwe going for about four days without water over debt.
Kwekwe Mayor Councillor Matenda Madzoke confirmed that the residents had petitioned council and Zinwa over perennial water challenges.
“We received the petition where residents were demanding to be involved in issues to do with water. We owe Zinwa $880 000 and they disconnected us. New ZimSteel owes us $13,5 million. We had a meeting on Friday with Essar representatives and we agreed to meet on Monday to discuss how we are going to recover our money now that Zisco is now under a new management that also has a new ownership structure,” he said.
Online Reporter