KADOMA residents yesterday entered their third consecutive week without running water, as council battles to repair a power transformer which was burnt following a fire outbreak at the water pump station at Claw Dam in the town.Report by Blessed Mhlanga, Staff Reporter
Town engineer Blessing Musasira said the transformer was taken to Bulawayo for repairs at an estimated cost of $21 000. The repair work would take about 10 days to complete.
“The transformer is custom made for that pump at Claw Dam and we therefore could not get a replacement from Zesa. We have had to send it for repairs and hopefully, soon, it will be back and normal water supplies restored,” Musasira said.
Dry taps have seen tensions rising in the small mining town where 278 cases of diarrhoea and nine of typhoid have been reported in the last month. Residents last week picketed council offices demanding urgent restoration of water supplies to curb further disease outbreaks. But Kadoma mayor Peter Matambo dismissed the demonstrations as stage-managed by rivals opposed to the MDC-T- dominated council.
“It’s amazing what people do to get into power. They attempt to use a crisis to gain political mileage, which is very sad indeed, but we have not folded our hands. We are in the process of getting the transformer fixed even though it’s not supposed to be our responsibility,” Matambo said.
Kadoma, with help from GIZ and Red Cross Society of Zimbabwe, has embarked on a massive water supply rehabilitation programme which will see two new pumps being installed at Claw Dam and Blue Ranges Water Treatment Plant in the next month.
“Galvanised pipes have all but blocked and they need to be changed. Unless we do that, Kadoma will fast becoming a city of shallow wells and boreholes,” Musarira said.
