VICTORIA Falls council officials have accused the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) of putting their lives and those of tourists at risk by failing to secure pumps providing water to the resort town.
By Nokuthaba Dlamini
The officials claim the pumps are erected at an open space and unsecured, posing the risk of water contamination.
Apart from the fear of contamination, erratic water supplies have posed the risk of the spread of water-borne diseases such as cholera.
Town clerk Ronnie Dube and ward 11 councillor Goshen Zhou made the claims at a recent full council meeting to discuss acute water shortages in the resort town, despite the tourist resort being on the shores of the giant Zambezi River.
Chinotimba and Mkhosana residents usually go for days without water and the municipality blames Zinwa for failing to pump enough raw water.
“Two weeks ago I took Local Government, Public Works and National Housing minister July Moyo to the site where Zinwa pumps water, and he noticed that the pumps are not secured. We really have an issue which is critical in the sense that we are a tourist destination and face of the country,” Zhou told the council meeting.
“Their equipment is obsolete, rusted and mostly left unattended. We had a commission of inquiry who came and a report was prepared, but nothing came out of it. The fact that there is no security means that Zinwa is putting people’s lives at risk. We have tried to engage them, but nothing tangible has come out of it.”
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The municipality pays around $22 000 per week to Zinwa for raw water, Zhou added.
