Peter Tanyanyiwa
Harare North Constituency residents last received any water three months ago, with many residents having endured 14 years of no council water.
And the most affected area being Hatcliffe.
In light of this, Harare North Member of Parliament Allan Rusty Markham has called on the City of Harare to distribute water supply equally despite the challenges they are facing.
In an interview this week, the Harare North Member of Parliament said all Northern suburbs were not receiving water for some time and council was prioritising southern western high density areas and the Central Business District (CBD).
He called on the local authority to start distributing water supply equally across Harare.
“The residents of all Northern suburbs are not getting water but in particular Harare North are not getting water from City of Harare at all, and this has been going on for months now. This started when the City of Harare started having problems procuring water treatment chemicals,” he said.
“City of Harare for some reason believes that the CBD and the High density areas which are the easiest to pump water to, in the south western side of Harare are the priority areas for water. I agree these areas are the easiest to pump water to, but it does not mean that there should be an unequal distribution of water.
“Residents of Harare North have been crying foul for a long time, many last received water in the last three months, we are getting nothing, personally I haven’t received water since 2014, and two months ago I got water which filled up a 100 litres, since then I haven’t received anything, that was the first time I received water in the last 14 years, most residents are worse off than me.”
The Harare North member of Parliament reiterated that the visibly unequal distribution of water should immediately stop in Harare, he added that the most affected suburb in Harare North constituency is Hatcliffe which is a high density area.
“This unequal distribution of water should stop, if CBD gets two days of water, we must also get two days, while there is limited supply of water, be it chemicals, be pumping capacity all areas should get equal distribution of water.
“The area most affected by the shortage of water in Harare North, is Hatcliffe suburb which is a high density suburb, they have not getting water at all and it’s not right, Hatciffe is constantly being left out on the pumping list. I hope Council get their house in order and start distributing water equally across Harare,” added Markham.
Harare City Council in the past two months only managed to pump an average of 319 megalitres daily against a demand of 800 megalitres.
There are fears that water woes may mount as Harare was recently forced to switch off its major treatment plant, Morton Jaffray, after it ran out of water treatment chemicals.
Harare’s debt has continued to rise despite it receiving several bailouts from Government, with the last amounting to $23 million being released in February.