Bulawayo’s chronic water woes are no longer just a story of drought, ageing infrastructure or delayed pipelines.
They are now a story of environmental sabotage unfolding in plain sight.
Mayor David Coltart’s alarm over rampant illegal gold mining in the Umzingwane catchment should shake authorities out of complacency, because what is happening upstream is an existential threat to the city itself.
The facts are stark and deeply troubling. After a season that has delivered more than 600 millimetres of rain — including over 100 millimetres in just one week — Umzingwane Dam sits at a paltry 30.1%.
This is not normal. Just a short distance away, Mshabezi Dam is spilling, full to capacity.
Geography and rainfall are not the problem. Human destruction is.
Coltart’s firsthand observations paint a grim picture: tributaries choked with mud, pools discoloured, riverbeds torn apart by unchecked alluvial mining.
These tributaries should be flowing strongly after such rains, slowly feeding Umzingwane Dam and securing Bulawayo’s future.
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Instead, they are dry scars on the landscape, their natural capacity to retain and release water destroyed.
Even more alarming is the lawlessness. A government ban on alluvial mining in river courses was announced towards the end of 2024, yet miners continue to operate openly, with large camps functioning as if no law exists.
The absence of Environmental Management Agency patrols or Zimbabwe Republic Police presence raises uncomfortable questions.
Is this incompetence, indifference, or complicity? Whatever the answer, the result is the same: a vital catchment is being sacrificed.
This is not an abstract environmental debate for activists and policymakers to ponder at leisure.
For Bulawayo, a city that has endured years of water shedding, dry taps and emergency boreholes, the destruction of Umzingwane is a direct attack on its survival.
Good rains this year have offered temporary relief, but Coltart’s warning is chillingly clear: in a drought year, a devastated catchment will deliver almost nothing.
Central government must act — decisively and immediately. Token statements and periodic blitzes will not suffice.
What is required is sustained enforcement, dismantling of illegal mining networks, restoration of damaged river systems, and accountability for those who allow this plunder to continue.
Bulawayo’s water crisis will not be solved by prayers for rain alone. Protecting Umzingwane is protecting the city’s future.
Failure to do so will condemn millions to a worsening cycle of scarcity, while a few continue to profit from the slow death of a river.
The time for action is now.
