The Sunday News
Munyaradzi Musiiwa, Midlands Correspondent
A HEALTH hazard is looming in Redcliff Town as residents have gone for three weeks without water after Kwekwe City Council disconnected supplies from the satellite town over $2 million debt.
This has left residents stranded, resulting in some resorting to unclean water sources such as unprotected wells and water from the gutters on their roofs as well as open streams. Rutendo high-density suburb which houses about 20 000 people has only one borehole which was drilled by the Government to partially address the water situation. Redcliff Municipality recently made a payment plan of $40 000 a month until they clear the debt.
However, it failed to own its commitments resulting in Kwekwe City Council disconnecting water from the town.
Kwekwe Mayor Councillor Matenda Madzoke confirmed that Kwekwe City Council had disconnected water from Redcliff after the latter failed to pay the agreed amount of money that goes towards settling the debt.
“We have disconnected water from Redcliff because they have failed to pay their monthly instalment of
$40 000 which they had proposed through their payment plan which would go towards settling their $2 million debt,” he said.
Clr Madzoke said Zisco also owed Kwekwe City Council $16 million in unpaid water bills. Redcliff Mayor Councillor Freddy Kapuya said the local authority had proposed water rationing as the residents were also struggling to pay their water bills.
He said they have to enhance and strengthen their revenue collection strategies.
This comes in the wake of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Ministry instructing the Redcliff municipality to either cut their salaries or retrench workers as their wage bill was no longer sustainable.
“We really have to honour our commitment and settle our debt. We acknowledge that we have to settle our debt and they have to buy chemicals to treat the water especially during the rainy season when it would be muddy. The challenge we have is that our residents are failing to pay their bills as most of them are not employed and it is a challenge,” he said.
Redcliff has three residential areas Redcliff, Rutendo and Torwood with an estimated population of about 50 000 people.
Torwood, which has shared ablution facilities, was once hit by a massive tapeworm outbreak that affected over 3 000 people due to unclean and unsafe water sources.
One of the boreholes in the Zisco compound had to be decommissioned after its water was found to be contaminated by chemicals due to the iron deposits in the area. Most people in Torwood are unemployed and rely on peace jobs as the majority are former Zisco employees who were recently retrenched following the demise of the giant steel manufacturing company.
