BCC hires out stadia without water supplies

Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
THOUSANDS of football fans in Bulawayo could be exposed to a health time bomb as it has emerged that the Bulawayo City Council has been hiring out its stadia without any water supplies.

This comes at a time that the local authority is undergoing one of its worst water shortages in recent years, with the city implementing a 72-hour water shedding schedule. However, at times the schedule goes beyond the projected period as these are determined by reservoir levels.

Sunday Sport has noted that a number of major Premier Soccer League fixtures have gone ahead without any water supplies to the stadia, which in itself violates council by-laws which prohibit large gatherings when there is no water.

During the Highlanders and FC Platinum game there was no water supplies at Barbourfields Stadium, same applies with the Chicken Inn and Highlanders at the same facility on Good Friday. Over 20 000 attended the two Bosso matches.

The situation is worse at Luveve Stadium as all games have gone ahead without any water supplies since the beginning of the season, with a huge stench now coming out of the VIP section toilet. Luveve is home to Chicken Inn, Bulawayo Chiefs and Hwange who are temporarily playing matches in Bulawayo while attending to the Colliery Stadium.

Responding to queries, BCC corporate communications manager, Nesisa Mpofu said the local authority had resolved to exempt the city’s stadia from water shedding during match days but said they were still facing challenges with maintaining that.

“The City of Bulawayo had arranged to exempt the city’s stadia including Barbourfields Stadium from water shedding during match days. However, due to unforeseen circumstances in some instances water delays to reach the stadium due to low water pressure as was the case during the Highlanders and FC Platinum match held on Sunday, 2 April 2023. In instances where there are such challenges of low water pressure, the Local Authority uses bowsers to deliver water for ablution facilities. We are also working on resuscitating the boreholes to mitigate the challenge,” said Mpofu.

However, the council spokesperson was mum regarding how the bowsers would service toilets which are located on higher platforms like the VVIP, VIP and media section toilets. According to council policies it is illegal to have large gatherings without any water supplies as this has the risk of exposing the public to such illnesses as diarrhoea and cholera. Last year the city was hit by a diarrhoea outbreak, which saw over 1 500 case being recorded in the country.

Zimbabwe over the past week intensified its cholera response after 457 cumulative cases with two deaths were recorded. This follows 14 African countries having now reported cholera outbreaks this year, with a cumulative 160 756 suspected cholera cases have been reported in the African region, including 3 288 deaths.
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