Water crisis: Pushcart operators make a killing

PUSHCART operators in western suburbs of Bulawayo are making a killing from the continuing water supply problem as they offer their services to provide water to desperate residents at a fee.

Given the congestion and squabbles that take place at the “alternative” water collection points and boreholes, some residents have resorted to hiring pushcart operators to help them as they can load more buckets and big containers.

Bulawayo is facing a severe water supply challenge due to the depleting water levels in major supply dams occasioned by poor rains this season.

Government has reacted swiftly to urgently rehabilitate boreholes at the Nyamandlovu aquifer to ease the situation with the council appealing for declaration of disaster status to enable it to harness funds to support programmes aimed at cushioning residents.

Some suburbs have gone for close to three weeks with dry taps, forcing some residents to seek water from unclean sources such as shallow wells in wetlands and from sewer streams for non-drinking use.

In an interview with Chronicle, Mr Bright Ndlovu from Emakhandeni suburb said residents started hiring him to provide water from a borehole several months back and he has been making a living out of it.

“I started doing this business since 2022 and the business has been working quite well, especially if there is a shortage of water in the city,” he said.

“Our price for hire hasn’t changed and only its US$1 for two 20-litre buckets. We charge US$5 for 10 buckets and we are making a profit out of it.

“As a push cart operator we get water from Luveve borehole and that is where we mostly get our customers. On a day we get about $20 if business is doing well but if it’s low, sometimes I get US$5 or US$10,’’ Mr Ndlovu said.

Another pushcart operator from Luveve suburb, Mr Mthabisi Ncube, said he has been into this business for more than five years as Bulawayo has been facing a perennial water problem. It is out of this project that he gets money to send his children to school and pay other bills.

“I started this business long back and it has never disappointed me and the only advice I can give to youths, especially those that are looking for employment, is that there’s the opportunity to work so that they eke a living by selling water to reduce drug and alcohol usage,” said Mr Ncube.

A woman who was filling her containers at a borehole in Lobengula West but declined to be named, said the water crisis has forced her to buy water as council supplies were no longer reliable.

She said she last had running water more than two weeks ago and has spent almost three hours queuing to buy water.

The situation is the same in most suburbs such as Iminyela, Old Pelandaba and Pelandaba West where pushcart operators and residents are seen on a daily basis walking on streets and main roads carrying water buckets. —@Lo7246Lovelyn