The Sunday Mail
This and That with Sokostina Wezhira
We recall a time when water used to gush out of Harare’s water taps. Clean, gushing water was synonymous with the tap.
Back then Sokostina would have never dreamt that there would come a time when some water taps in this capital city would rust after drops of water. There are suburbs in Harare like Greendale, Mandara and some parts of Highlands and Glen Lorne where big homes are functioning without running tap water.
The last time I checked, water was life and was also a basic human right. Thus one cannot help but wonder.
Another thing to note is that when one has spent years building their dream home with several bedrooms and bathrooms endowed with gleaming bathtubs and jacuzzis, the last thing they would be looking forward to is using the bucket system to flush these toilets and to bath.
While some have been quick to sink boreholes that now supply water into their homes, there are certain areas where the water table is just too low thus, water becomes difficult to get hold of.
These places are sometimes rocky and bumpy. And therefore, these people have to go up and down stairs of these double storey mansions, carrying buckets of water.
Cry my beloved city.
Surely after meandering carefully along the potholed roads that have become so common across the city, the last thing a person should be subjected to is a home or workplace without water. People are going through tough times out there. At the end of the day, one just wants to relax at home. But without water, how is that possible? It could be the reason why so many people are stressed lately. Home is no longer the haven it used to be.
Sokostina marvelled the other day when she came across a learning institution that had no water but continued to offer lessons to its hundreds of adult learners.
When Sokostina was growing up, as soon as water supplies were cut off for some reason or other, the school or office would immediately be shut down for health reasons. It was very simple.
People need water to survive. Cleanliness and hygiene are not possible when there is no access to water. So without water, we would close down. Supplies would be restored very fast too.
But today have we become so used to dirt and disease that we no longer mind about being in the presence of filth?
Yes, some people actually continue to use the toilet when there is no water in the building.
If you hold them in a place without water, such things will happen. So what are the officials and authorities saying? But then if schools and offices close down each time there is no water, who will remain open?
After all, there are areas that are now known to have no water at all or most of the time (which rely on unprotected wells as sources of water), such as Hopley, Budiriro, and parts of Ruwa and Chitungwiza, how do they operate? If they were to close down, where would all the residents go?
Where are the people in charge as such things happen? The last time Sokostina checked the people in charge of Harare City Council were there in office driving around in big cars that cannot feel the potholes as the rest of us do, living in plush suburbs where they obviously paid the least sums of money (council land is quite cheap but it is not for ordinary people like you and me).
They were there at Town House sitting in their big offices and collecting their huge salaries and hefty packages while the city of Harare collapses.
While some residents have had to buy water pumps and are buying water every day at hefty sums, the man in charge of Harare City continues to earn a salary because even if one does not have running water they must pay their rates.
While those in high density areas continue to dig wells at an added cost and drink the dirty water from them, leading to an increase in diarrhoeal diseases, this man and his team are there driving huge cars that cost an arm and a leg to maintain; and allocating each other stands in every corner of the city.
While refuse goes uncollected and residents have resorted to fixing burst sewers on their own, that man still has a job.
After being subjected to a life without water and decent housing in most instances, the citizens of this country also have to deal with a situation where electricity is only sometimes available. As Sokostina writes this, the generator is droning on and on behind her. That has become a part of life. Daily, Zimbabweans are subjected to power cuts of longer than eight hours in some cases. Some suburbs in Harare have actually gone for days without power.
While the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (Zesa) has attributed this latest power crisis to a problem at Hwange Power Station, the truth is that even before this, power in Harare had become a visitor.
As a result, many homes now boast of gas stoves, generators or inverters. These are added costs that are pushed onto the Zimbabwean all the time. It seems as if the people of Zimbabwe must suffer.
The ones who are in office to ensure that services are provided can afford to dilly dally while all the costs and headaches are passed onto the ordinary citizen.
Do these people at Zesa know that electricity is synonymous with city life? If one wants to live in darkness, then the last place they would come to is the city.
So why is it suddenly normal for residents to go without power most of the time in the city? Faults have also become a daily occurrence in some areas.
Someone was saying they no longer enjoy the rains because as soon as it rains, the power disappears, and Zesa says it is a fault.
Why should people continue to draw income when they are not performing? If people are supposed to supply us with power and they do not; why should they drive these big cars that all non-performing executives and politicians seem to think they deserve, despite the fact that they are guzzlers and are expensive to maintain?
Why do we continue to pay for services that are not provided? We pay to drive on dangerous roads.
We pay rates for non-existent services. Zesa even wants to hike tariffs yet the power is just not there? We have had enough people. Can we have some services please?
