BY VENERANDA LANGA
LOCAL civil society groups yesterday urged government to work closely with local authorities to ensure flawless supply of clean water to tame the spread of communicable diseases such as the coronavirus (COVID-19) which has been declared a global pandemic.
This came as the country yesterday commemorated the World Water Day under the theme Water and Climate Change.
Residents in most urban centres are grappling with water shortages mainly blamed on archaic infrastructure, shortage of treatment chemicals and mismanagement by local authorities.
In a statement, the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum said: “Citizens, residents and visitors are encouraged to maintain the highest standards of hygiene to curb the spread of the virus. This can only be achieved if central government works closely with local authorities to ensure constant provision of potable water.”
“Noting that the isolation centres and health institutions equipped to deal with COVID-19 are more than 250km away from some major ports of entry, we urge government to equip local health facilities and personnel that are closer to ports of entry with the necessary resources and information relating to the detection and treatment of COVID-19.”
The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) also said the Harare City Council should ensure that the city has adequate supplies of water.
“The provision of running water is more imperative and critical now in light of the COVID-19 outbreak which requires good hygiene as a preventive measure. Hand washing can only be done where there is running tap water and the lack of running water militates against this prevention regime that your office has been advocating for,” the ZLHR letter read.
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Other civil society groups also called for transparency and accountability in the use of funds donated to combat the coronavirus in Zimbabwe.
In a statement, the Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (Zimcodd) said precautionary measures against tenderpreneurship must be taken in order to guard against looting of the funds.
Last week, President Emmerson Mnangagwa launched a US$26 million preparedness and response plan for coronavirus.
“The fight against coronavirus will of course involve immense procurement of kits and other accessories for screening, handling, testing and treatment of the virus. The bulk resource leakages from the public coffers are evident in public procurement due to non-compliance of public procurement procedures, regulations and rules,” Zimcodd said.
