Bulawayo City Council’s water crisis management committee says it will soon lobby MPs to block government plans to allow the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) to take over the management of the city’s water resources.
By Our Staff Reporter
Addressing stakeholders during a meeting on Monday, a member of the committee Anglistone Sibanda said they will lobby MPs from Bulawayo to block the Bill when it is brought to Parliament.
“We will engage the parliamentarians to try and stop the move of having a parastatal running water affairs in cities and we also call for concerted efforts by residents to say “No” to that initiative before it is put in place,” Sibanda said.
“If we come together as the people of Bulawayo, we can be heard.”
Sibanda said his committee was arranging a meeting with the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Water and the Finance ministry to get support on water projects before next year’s National Budget presentation.
“We will also engage stakeholders and ministries such as those of Mines and Mining Development, Water Resources Management and Development, Local Government Urban and Rural Development and Environment and Natural Resources to synchronise efforts to solve the water problems in the city,” he said.
Bulawayo is one of the cities that rejected the move by government to seize control of water and place it under Zinwa in the past two years.
