The Sunday News
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Gwanda Correspondent
SOME suburbs in Gwanda are going for a week without water, raising fears that residents will not be able to adhere to basic hygiene requirements as measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Part of the basic preventive measures of the virus include thorough washing of hands and social distancing. However, residents said these measures could be difficult to adhere to as they are forced to congregate at boreholes to fetch water for domestic use.
The town has been facing serious water challenges for several months due to erratic power cuts which have been making it difficult for the municipality to pump water.
“We are now living in fear as residents from Gwanda because of the water crisis given the outbreak of coronavirus. We are supposed to avoid crowds but we have to continuously flock to boreholes where we can be a crowd of 100 in order to collect water.
“We are also supposed to wash our hands thoroughly with soap and water. We are also supposed to use running water in order to ensure that our hands are clean. How can we possibly observe these hygiene guidelines with this prevailing water crisis, where will we get the tap water when we go for a over a week without water? We can’t afford to use a lot of water washing our hands as we are supposed to preserve the water for drinking and cooking,” said Mrs Nozinhle Dube from Spitzkop suburb.
Another resident, Mr Vusumuzi Maphosa from Senondo suburb said they have not had running water for a week and sometimes when it is restored it is only for a day, mostly at night. He said there was need for relevant authorities to address the issue as the town was sitting on a health time bomb.
Gwanda Mayor Councillor Jastone Mazhale said the municipality was failing to supply water to the town due to prolonged power cuts. He said council has written to the Ministry of Energy and Power Development seeking to have a dedicated line that would supply power to the pumping station and they were waiting for a response.
@DubeMatutu
