admincuts, which Zesa Holdings rebutted.
Council spokesperson Mr Leslie Gwindi said maintenance works at Morton Jaffray Water Treatment Plant were complete, but power cuts were making it difficult to pump water at full capacity.
But Zesa group chief executive, Mr Josh Chifamba, said there was no loading shedding at the water treatment plant. He said all water pumping stations in the country were treated like “essential consumers” and were not affected by load shedding.
Mr Chifamba said power outages at water works would only be as a result of a fault.
“We treat all water pumping works the way we treat institutions like hospitals,” he said. “They are considered as essential consumers and there is no load shedding.
“The station used to get electricity from Norton, but now it is coming from Harare. If there is a power outage, then it would be a fault not load shedding. I think it is a problem on their part.”
Harare’s western suburbs have been without water for more than a week after a pump house at the main plant was flooded with water and burst.
Mr Gwindi said they used to have a dedicated line of electricity but Zesa was failing to keep it consistently operational.
“We have completed repairing, but the problem is that of power,” he said. “When we start pumping and have a power cut it means going back to square one.
Mr Gwindi said losing power for 30 minutes would result in a delay in pumping by a day.
Online Reporter