EVER heard of dying of thirst while your feet are in water?
By Nokuthaba Dlamini
This is what Victoria Falls’ Mkhosana residents are going through, despite living on the shores of the mighty Zambezi River.
Some have gone for years without running water, a development they say was making them feel destitute in their home town.
Residents in the resort town vented their frustrations during the start of the 2018 Victoria Falls municipality budget consultative meetings on Monday.
“We are tired of council’s promises that are never fulfilled,” charged one resident.
“For the past three years, we have gone without water in Mfelandawonye and nothing has been done.
“You come here and we tell you about the same grievances every year and we beg you to fix the problem, but you never do anything.
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“What is so special about other townships, as we are all ratepayers and owners of this town.”
Another resident said: “You never fulfil your promises.
“You are only good at moving door-to-door disconnecting water if we default to pay, yet you can’t deliver that precious liquid, but now water only comes at night and at very low pressure once after three days.
“You promised us last year that you will not be disconnecting water for us if we form groups, but this is what you are doing every month, and it makes us feel destitute.”
Some also complained of the high water charges, accusing council of estimating their bills.
Garikai residents also complained about the unavailability of a sewer system in their area for years, amid fears of a health time bomb.
In response, council engineer, Nathan Ngwenya said the issue was beyond them due to financial challenges, but he said they were putting measures in place to ensure that water and sewer services were available to the residents.
“We are aware that many residents in Mkhosana can’t access water and sanitation services,” he said.
“The problem is that this area receives water from a reservoir, unlike Chinotimba, which gets water directly from pumps, so it becomes difficult to balance water supply.
“We are, however, working on a project called water sanitation hygiene to provide water, but there is need to pay for rates.
“Designs are underway, where we will have a 10 mega litre ground reservoir and a 750 litre elevated reservoir to mitigate the situation.
“As for the sewer, we couldn’t connect the sewer line to every house because the area is too high, but we are working on connecting a sewer line that will be connected to CBZ lines. We need to get funding first from you.”
