MORE than 300 residents besieged Town House yesterday where they staged a peaceful demonstration demanding water in the capital Harare.
MOSES MATENGA STAFF REPORTER
The residents, all members of the Combined Harare Residents’ Association (CHRA), brought with them empty buckets to harvest water from the council head office and took time to launch their All we want is water campaign.
The residents, clad in the T-shirts inscribed “Water is our priority”, demanded audience with the mayor.
They also demanded that council speeds up the process of ensuring potable water is availed to millions of desperate citizens who have gone for years without supplies of the precious liquid.
Mayor Bernard Manyenyeni addressed the residents, assuring them that the water crisis would be addressed by October after the refurbishment of the Morton Jaffray Waterworks under the $144 million Chinese loan.
“It’s a peaceful call for water and marks the launch of our All we want is water campaign. The women and other residents brought buckets not as a protest, but a genuine concern to show there is no water in the suburbs,” CHRA chairman Simbarashe Moyo said.
“Further to that, City of Harare has not stopped billing residents, with many already surpassing the $2 000 mark regardless of the directive by the Ministry of Local Government to slash bills.”
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Several areas in Harare have gone for years without water due to demand outstripping supply attributed to obsolete material among other issues.
In Mabvuku-Tafara, Norton, Epworth and other suburbs, water is scarce, leading residents to make use of shallow wells that expose them to waterborne diseases.
