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NewsDay

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Police, army blamed for Darwendale water cuts

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DARWENDALE residents have gone for five days without running water after Zinwa cut off supplies over unpaid bills by the ZRP and the Ministry of Defence.

DARWENDALE residents have gone for five days without running water after the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) cut off supplies over unpaid bills by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and the Ministry of Defence.

Feluna Nleya Figures obtained by NewsDay shows that the Defence ministry owed $167 738 while the ZRP owed $32 998. Local residents owed the authority $3 183. Zinwa catchment manager Takudza Makwangudze confirmed that residents were not receiving water, but said it was due to water chemical shortages.

He said the shortage of chemicals was as a result of poor cashflow from government departments and the failure by residents to pay their debts.

“It is not a disconnection as such, but we cannot pump raw water to the residents because we have a shortage of chemicals,” said Makwangudze.

“We are facing challenges in procuring chemicals for the water on time and this is because of poor cashflow.

“People are not paying bills and the major debtors are government departments. They are the ones who owe us a lot, and since the scrapping of bills some residents do not pay and have since accumulated again.”

Makwangudze, however, said the local authority was in the process of acquiring chemicals and residents would start receiving water at the weekend.

“We are trying our best to collect the money, but it is very difficult with government departments, especially police,” said Makwangudze. Sources who spoke to NewsDay said they had gone for more than five days without water after Zinwa disconnected water supplies due to unpaid bills by the police and residents were now resorting to unsafe means for water.