By Farayi Mungoshi

WHEN Chitungwiza town clerk George Makunde told The Herald in September that the City of Chitungwiza would be cutting down water supply to residents from two to a single day per week, it did not immediately register in my mind the implications of such a move.
It was when I arrived at my parents’ house in Zengeza to find both their water tanks empty that the message started sinking in.
The drinking water they had bought at the local pharmacy had run out in the afternoon and they could not cook anything, let alone take baths or flush the toilet.
“We have not received water in over a week, it normally comes on a Monday and continues through Tuesday but now it’s Wednesday and we have received nothing since Monday last week and our water tanks have run dry,” said mother.
I tried hard not to imagine the consequences of not having water within the house, coupled with the fact that there is a terminally ill person in the house who needs constant care. What is care then without water?
We had to drive to Zengeza 4 to get water from our cousin who has a well at her house and because Zengeza 4 is situated on lower ground its wells still have water whereas other wells elsewhere have dried up.
As I drove from my parents’ house later that night, on my way home to Zengeza 2, I passed by the borehole along Hombarume Road.
It was packed with people with containers.
Four men were helping each other pump the water into containers.
There was no way my ageing parents could do this; what of the other elderly people now living alone?
How were they managing?
Were they bathing at all?
On October 7, H Metro revealed that the City of Harare, which supplies water to Chitungwiza Municipality was to reduce its water sales to 10 megalitres per day from 20, meaning residents would have to endure the hardship of receiving water at least once a fortnight.
The lack of water has also seen unemployed youths hiring carts for a dollar from local cart dealers to collect water from the well to people’s houses for US$1,50 for six 20l buckets.
Sibongile Musarurwa, a resident in Zengeza 2, complained that in the past month or so, they have had no running water at all.
“I recall only one house from our street that produced running water from the tap and it was only for a few hours though,” she said.
“Hatichatomboizivi mvura isu.”
As we were discussing the water situation, the young man who normally fetches water for her arrived with six buckets of water.
He had been gone with the buckets for over 36 hours and the situation had become dire within the house, with only a few drops left from the last fill.
The young man was accompanied by a boy of 15.
I asked what he was doing collecting water when he was supposed to be in school. The boy, Mike, revealed that his parents could not afford his school fees hence he found it better to financially occupy himself than sit at home.
When asked by Musarurwa why he wasn’t contributing the money he is getting from the water business towards his school fees, the young boy was at a loss for words.
Another lady who preferred to remain anonymous then jumped into the conversation, explaining how this has affected their children and how she had to stop her son from playing with another boy (13) in the neighborhood who was running away from school in order to ferry water for people.
“The Government must do something about this situation because vana havachadi kuenda kuchikoro nekuda kwedhora iroro ravanowana kubva kuvanhu vavanotakurira mvura,” she said.
“Maybe a statement should be made denouncing child labour.”
As much as women and the girl-child are at a graver receiving end, more men have now made it their business to look for water since it takes more than one bucket to sustain a whole household and hence the need for extra manpower.
While the water challenges have also created employment for some people, it has also brought the people together as they find themselves having to work together to get water.
Twice now I have run into a tractor written ‘CDC’ (Chitungwiza District Council) pulling a water bowser to supply residents with water.
It might not be enough and somebody might even scoff at the idea of providing such a populous area with water from a mobile tank, but after seeing the people scramble for water at the tractor, one only has to nod and appreciate that this is at least a beginning.
Chitungiwza needs to come together and work as one to end this problem.
It is not only the town clerk’s problem, but everyone’s problem.
It is touching when those with wells at their houses open up their gates for their neighbours.
Those who have refused with their wells in the past have often woken up to find dead cats floating in their wells.
Others have had bins emptied into their wells.
It is a well-known fact that this well water is not safe to drink, but many have no other solution since they cannot afford that US$1 to buy drinking water every day, thus it is clear the health of hundreds of thousands of people is in danger.
Even though residents are devastated and angry, Chitungwiza Municipality cannot be fully blamed for the current state of affairs as the water levels in dams (Lake Chivero, Manyame) that supply Harare with water have lowered due to the El-Nino-induced drought.
The delayed works at Morton Jeffrey Water Works are also part-and-parcel of the problem.
Chitungwiza, which does not have its own water supply and relies on Harare,is taking steps to construct its own dam (Muda Dam), but the project is facing financial problems.
It is time people in Chitungwiza put their heads together to build their own dam.