Greendale, Mandara residents meet council over water crisis

Diana Nherera Suburban Reporter

Residents of Greendale and Mandara met recently with City of Harare officials to discuss  the perennial water problems in the two suburbs.

The residents organised themselves under the Greendale Residents and Ratepayers Association (GRRA) and the Mandara Association of  Residents and Ratepayers (MARR) to seek audience with the City of Harare over the persistent water crisis in the two suburbs.

Ward 9 Councillor Prince Mutebuka was also part of the meeting called to address the ongoing water shortages .

Mandara Ratepayers Residents Association and the Greendale Residents and Ratepayers Association on Thursday met the City of Harare and ward 9 Councillor Prince Mutebuka over the unavailability of water.

In an interview after the meeting held at Highlands District Office, Mr Derrick Mackenzie from MARR said the long running water crisis was a basis of the engagement between the residents’ associations and the city officials.

“They came together for a worthy cause to fix common issues in the area.

“Residents are being billed for water which they are not receiving.

“Some Mandara residents have gone up to five years without water,” he said.

Mr Mackenzie blamed council for incompetence.

“Residents complain of burst pipes and half of those burst pipes have never been attended to.

“We spoke about the burst pipe on Mutare Road in the meeting.

“A council official says ‘we are waiting to procure some components that are needed’ and its now six months.

“In my view, some people need to be changed.

“They have been in positions for too long.

“They no longer take the people’s requirements seriously.

“We talk of water, roads, everything, quite honestly is a mess,” he said.

Mr Mackenzie highlighted the frustrations residents were going through when they seek solutions from council officials who are always giving excuses.

“Mandara residents have no water for five years, six years, others are saying 20 (years). There’s the issue here where somebody is saying we have given up because if we try and speak to them they just give us excuses that are non-existent. If people cannot come up with solutions, then maybe we have to escalate it to people who are responsible for making decisions.”

He said he asked council why Mandara cannot get water even once a week.

“I don’t think it’s too much for the residents to ask for.

“If they can’t, then they should look at their billing and exempt people from paying water which they are not receiving or deduct the times they have not been supplying the water.

“Because you can’t just keep paying for water and they say council is owed so much by residents. Some residents it’s not that they don’t want to pay, what are they paying for?

“And it’s come to where money is difficult (to generate) and people are watching what they are spending.

“If I am going to pay for a service, give me the service,” said Mr Mackenzie.

He said the water crisis needed a holistic approach to get a solution.

“We need to approach this holistically and bring in people that matter to the table and say these are our concerns. How best can these be addressed given the limited resources. Residents are not just crying for water, they understand the constraints at supply dams and treatment plants such as Morton Jaffray. They understand all these other issues. But if areas around them get water and they don’t and then what? They are forced to buy water from these companies who put them on a two weeks’ waiting list.”

He thanked Councillor Prince Mutebuka for being proactive.

“He’s working with us so I’m hoping that we can solve some of these issues in terms of water, water first, other issues come later because we can’t carry on like this in times of these extreme temperatures.

“We need water.

“Cholera does not only affect people in high density suburbs.

“It also affects people in areas like ours,” said Mr Mackenzie.

He said we are looking at that and making sure there is a way forward by next week.

“It’s time to fix things.

“We can’t carry on with the blame game. We don’t want representatives, we want to deal with the people directly concerned with the issues we are faced with.

“As I mentioned to (Mr Felix) Marodza (a City of Harare water superintendent), it’s not personal, what we are saying is let’s fix where the issues,  let’s have equitable water distribution.

“Most boreholes are dry, they are not prolific,” said Mr Mackenzie.

Cllr Mutebuka said power cuts were disrupting water pumping at Letombo Pump Station.

“Sometimes when water is supposed to come this side there will be no electricity to pump to the reservoirs.

“That opportunity will just go away as there will be no electricity at the pump station.

“So there was an agreement that we engage Zesa to make sure that our line is on so that we can pump,” he said.

He also noted that low water levels in Harava and Seke Dams led to the decommissioning of the two dams leaving nothing coming from the Prince Edward Water treatment plant, which drew from the two sources, further compounding the problem.

“We agreed to meet again next Monday, and this time, we’ll have the director of water present. Our proposal is to dedicate specific weeks for each pump station—Letombo and Donnybrook—to ensure that underserved areas like Mandara receive water consistently,” he said.

Cllr Mutebuka emphasised the urgency of implementing their plan before the festive season when domestic water demand typically increases. From the look of things, the target to implement the plan before the festive season has been missed because the holiday season has already started with no solution.

He also addressed concerns regarding refuse collection, saying the refuse compactor is actively collecting garbage and disputed claims of prolonged service interruptions in Greendale.

The next meeting, scheduled for Monday, aims to bring together Zesa, the city’s principal engineer, the director of water, and residents to finalsze and implement the proposed strategies for water distribution in the two suburbs.

Mandara and Greendale are among the suburbs worst affected by the water crisis in Harare. Northen and eastern suburbs bear the brunt of the water crisis in Harare leaving residents to buy from bulk water suppliers in addition to paying for non-delivered tap water from council.