The Sunday Mail
BUILT on a sprawling rocky area, Chitungwiza relies on Harare for its water. Due to successive droughts, a receding water table and a growing population, the town has been battling a prolonged water crisis. Our reporter Langton Nyakwenda last week spoke to Chitungwiza Mayor Councillor Lovemore Maiko to find out if the local authority has solutions to the perennial water problems and a myriad of other difficulties. Below we publish excerpts.
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Q: How is Chitungwiza doing vis-à-vis its current population?
A: According to the 2012 census, the population of Chitungwiza stood at just over 350 000, but the number has since surpassed the 500 000 threshold. When the town was established in the 1970s (1978), it was meant to carry a population of 100 000 or less, but there has been rapid population growth which has caused our infrastructure to be overwhelmed.
Q: How much water does the town need daily?
A: We need about 70 megalitres of water daily. If that is achieved, then every household in Chitungwiza will have running water all the time. It’s unfortunate that we are getting about 30 megalitres in seven days when we are supposed to be getting 490 megalitres. To put things into perspective, Chitungwiza was established as a dormitory town and it gets most of its services from Harare. It does not have its own source of water despite having the third-largest population in terms of urban settlement.
We rely on Harare, which is currently struggling to cater for its own people. The current situation has been worsened by two successive droughts. This has reduced water levels in dams that supply both Harare and Greater Harare, which includes Chitungwiza.
We have not been able to provide potable water to our people because Harare is not providing enough for us. However, despite all these setbacks, we actually appreciate the support we get from Harare.
Q: What became of the much-talked-about Muda Dam project?
A: The Muda Dam project is the only permanent solution to the water crisis in Chitungwiza. As a council, we have done our part. We have made all the resolutions with regards to what is supposed to be done. The issue is now being handled at central Government level. Government has an interest to see that this project sails through, but this is not a short-term solution. It will take some time to construct the dam at a cost of about US$300 million, and this will be a permanent solution to the water crisis in Chitungwiza.
Q: What is the short-term plan to mitigate this perennial water crisis?
A: We have been drilling boreholes. They are not enough and the water table is going down due to excessive drilling of boreholes across the town.
Also, Chitungwiza was built on top of a granite rock, so we have a crisis in some parts where boreholes are drilled and we end up with dry holes. We are trying to find ways to mitigate this water crisis, but this borehole project is a drop in the ocean. To be honest with you, we are faced with one of the worst crises as a town. We are vulnerable, our residents are exposed to water-borne diseases like typhoid and cholera.
Q: Where are you getting money to drill these boreholes?
A: We are using devolution funds. We have actually committed to deal immediately with the water crisis facing the town. The budget for this borehole project is $3 million.
Q: What other mitigatory measures have you put in place?
A: We have tried to take up the Jonasi Water Project which was started by the Japanese back in 2012, but we then abandoned it. We had actually targeted that by 2020, we would have water being pumped into our reservoir tanks in Seke and supply residents in the Seke area, while Zengeza and St Mary’s would be getting from Harare.
Q: Your town has a problem of land barons and illegal parcelling out of land. How are you handling this?
A: We have agreed that we need to have our own masterplan as a town. Once we know the land we have, we can regularise these activities; deal with errant land barons. We are also migrating from manual to e-governance, making sure that there is development control. These land barons have to be arrested. Whenever they are arrested they always go scot-free. We are, therefore, appealing to the authorities to support local councils in dealing with this issue.
It is not only land barons, there are also space barons, those who occupy undesignated council spaces for informal businesses. They just come in, allocate people space and collect money from them. So we are coming up with decisive measures to deal with space barons so that at the end of the day, people regain trust in their local authority. As it stands, we are facing a crisis where people do not have trust in the local authority. We are putting in place measures to regain that trust and confidence. There are a lot of housekeeping issues we have to deal with as a council and the issue of land barons is uppermost.
Q: Are there legal stands for sale in Chitungwiza and are the processes above board?
A: Currently, we have a situation where people have been invading land that is not for residential purposes. That is why we are appealing to the Government to have the six farms around Nyatsime area allocated to Chitungwiza. We need the issue to be brought to finality. We have more than half a million people occupying about 45 square kilometres — we are squashed. There is need for an expansion of our town. As things stand, council doesn’t have land where you can say we can create residential stands.
Look at Ground B, Macheka Square in St Mary’s, council reserved it for a school. Unfortunately, there are some parts of that land that have been invaded and people are building two-roomed houses. These are illegal activities that we intend to deal with.
We are also appealing to residents’ associations to co-operate with council. Whenever council wants to take action against these illegal settlers, they are the ones that rush to the courts to seek interdicts to stop us. On one hand, they (residents associations) are blaming council for not acting on these people fuelling illegal land parcelling and on the other they are defending illegal activities. They should partner council in fighting this problem.
Q: Recently you got US$1 million from Africa Development Bank for sanitisation purposes. How far do you think this will go in alleviating the sewage crisis in the town?
A: Our sewer system has totally collapsed. There are some areas that have been identified in St Mary’s, Seke and even parts of Zengeza where there are perennial sewer problems; they are going to benefit from this fund. We appreciate the gesture by the AfDB under ZimFund 2. This fund is going towards addressing areas which have been facing perennial sewer problems. This programme is targeting main trunks, hotspots and also the issue of re-routing. There is equipment which will be bought to make sure we deal with this issue.
Q: When is the project starting?
A: It was supposed to start in April but because of the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been postponed. It will now start at the end of July.
Q: Refuse collection has been a thorny issue in Chitungwiza. What are you doing to resolve this as an authority?
A: Our fleet of refuse collection trucks is antiquated. We have also had fuel challenges. As you know, this is a national crisis . . . fuel is not readily available. Some service stations are charging for fuel in foreign currency, but council doesn’t charge foreign currency for its services, so we are the ones who are going to suffer the most.
Q: How are your finances? We understand you have been failing to pay your workers.
A: We owe our creditors about $70 million, while ratepayers, both businesses and residents, owe council over $70 million as well.
We have engaged most of the creditors and we now have a payment plan in place. Honestly, I have never been to any town where people want to live for free like the people of Chitungwiza.
People expect to get the services, but at the same time they don’t want to pay rates. On the issue of salaries, we are going to have a report on the state of our salary arrears soon, because there has been an overstatement of these figures. The issue has been blown out of proportion. We paid some of the council employees, but the general assumption is that all the employees are still owed.
Q: There is activity at the Zengeza 2 market stall. What is going on there?
A: We have a project under our Urban Renewal Programme where we are going to spruce up the town. We have areas like Unit G hostels, you are going to see a change there. We have condemned those hostels. We need to have modern-day infrastructure put in place. We need to have new markets constructed, including the renovation of our main football stadium (Chibuku). We have a mandate to see these structures revamped. And Zengeza 2 is part of this programme. We need to have a modern-day market and new infrastructure at Makoni, Unit J and other areas. But, we will need to partner private players. Those at Zengeza 2 are not permanent structures. The long-term plan is to have new market places.
Q: What’s your plan for Chibuku Stadium? There are allegations that some councillors demanded kickbacks when Prophet Walter Magaya wanted to revamp the stadium . . . ?
A: Chibuku Stadium is also part of this regeneration project. We are inviting private players to come and renovate it so that it meets ZIFA and CAF standards. It is sad that we have a number of players and coaches dominating in the Premier Soccer League, but we do not have our own good stadium in Chitungwiza. The town has produced the likes of Norman Mapeza, Lloyd Chitembwe, Stewart Murisa, Alois Bunjira, Gift Muzadzi and Edelbert Dinha, to name a few, but now we no longer have a football stadium. It is sad.
We need to create an enabling environment that will unlock opportunities for all those talented boys and girls in the town. So, if Prophet Magaya wants to come and partner, he is free to do so. About the allegations you mention, I do not have finer details on why the project didn’t take off.
There are so many stories around that issue. I know he (Magaya) is passionate about football and he also hails from the town.
Q: How have you handled health provision issues?
A: We do have partners on board and we are trying to have all clinics providing primary healthcare to our people. We also intend to put an infectious (diseases) hospital here. Health is a right and it’s our duty to make sure that we provide such services. So far we have four clinics. We have had a shortage of nurses, but we recruited about 80 more nurses, making them adequate.
Q: Your road network is poor. What is the problem?
A: True, our road network is not in a good state; we are not proud of that. Our plea is for Government to start considering giving that function of vehicle licensing to councils, in a system where we have vehicle licences paid to local authorities, but all is paid to Zinara (Zimbabwe National Roads Administration), and we are getting peanuts from Zinara.
Recently we were allocated $3 million. What can we do with that money? You can’t even patch a one-kilometre road with such an amount.
Q: In short, who is Mayor Maiko?
A: Lovemore Maiko is a simple married person. He is 33. I was born and bred here, with a desire to see our town prosper and move away from that dormitory mindset.
