The Sunday News
Vusumuzi Dube, Senior Municipal Reporter
A CANADA-BASED non-governmental organisation, #TheWalk has launched a Bulawayo Water Crisis Relief Fund for the construction of water tank kiosks in Magwegwe and Nkulumane to ease water shortages in these areas.
The city is enduring serious water rationing with residents getting water once a week after the council introduced a six-day water rationing schedule. Noting the water crisis in the city, #TheWalk, launched the fund which aims to raise CD$15 000 (US$11 000) to go towards the construction of water kiosks in the two suburbs which are some of the hardest hit in terms of the water shortages. #TheWalk has since established a GoFundMe crowdfunding account which has raised CD$800 (US$600) from the required CD$15 000.
In brief of the goals of the initiative, the organisation’s executive director, Mr Thabo Siziba said they noted that there was a need to improve availability of water in the city.
“The Bulawayo City Council has identified 25 sites that comprise 6 099 affected homes in desperate need of emergency water supply where proposed water tank kiosks will be erected. #TheWalk has committed to raising CD$15 000 to erect two of the 25 complete sites in accordance with the Bulawayo City Council’s construction guidelines. The high-density suburbs that this specific fundraising campaign is going to service with water tank kiosks are Magwegwe and Nkulumane, and both are already areas experiencing the six-day water rationing schedule where all households are left with no immediate access to clean and safe water,” said Mr Siziba.
He said in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the city now needed everyone to come on board in terms of proffering a solution to the water crisis in the city.
“While the World Health Organisation, supported by Governments all over the world are calling for mandatory frequent hand washing and sanitisation of all citizens in every country, as well as social distancing, for residents of Magwegwe and Nkulumane high density suburbs of Bulawayo, those Covid-19 precautionary measures are simply impractical. As of May 15th 2020, all the dams which are the primary water sources of the City of Bulawayo were reported to be at less than 30 percent full and this has led the Bulawayo city water authorities to begin shutting off water for up to six days at a time in order to conserve and drag water availability for the city until the next rainy season,” said Mr Siziba.
He said that the water situation in the city was so dire that some residents were now resorting to the collection of untreated sewage water from open streams and gutters, to use for flushing toilets.
Two months ago, the local authority revealed that sections of three suburbs — Pumula South, Emganwini and Magwegwe — will only be connected to the council water system provided the supply dams receive enough inflows in the next rainy season which starts around November.
