Chitungwiza needs its own water source: Alice Kuvh...

Chitungwiza needs its own water source: Alice Kuvheya

**Chitungwiza Residents Trust executive director, Alice Kuvheya**

Edmore Zvinonzwa

Advocating for the construction of the Muda Dam should remain the number one priority for all elected councillors and legislators as well as civil society groups operating in Chitungwiza, founding member and executive director of Chitungwiza Residents Trust, Alice Kuvheya, has said.

In an interview with Zim Now, Kuvheya, who was born and bred in Chitungwiza, said the problem of water – a key service delivery issue - has become perennial for Harare’s dormitory town, which is however, ranked third in the country in terms of population.

“The provision of water is important for any local authority but for Chitungwiza, the situation is bad, to say the least. Perhaps if you ask any woman resident here, they understand the burden better. I have always advocated for the building of Chitungwiza’s own source of water. Right now, the cholera cases are ballooning across the country with Chitungwiza as one of the hotspots. We cannot continue to buy water from private boreholes. Most of the public boreholes in Chitungwiza are contaminated.

**Alice Kuvheya joins other women in a queue for water**

“I have written a letter to President Emmerson Mnangagwa expressing my wish to meet him one-on-one to tell beg him for the construction of Muda Dam,” said the firebrand human rights campaigner said.

“It is very difficult for us as women. We need water every day but we are getting it once or twice per week in other places in Chitungwiza. Sadly, we cannot drink this water,” Kuvheya, who has represented women on various platforms, told Zim Now.

“Chitungwiza currently has five elected Members of the National Assembly. None of them is a woman. They all know about the town’s water problems. All the councilors are aware of the water challenges. In the wake of cholera, we cannot continue to rely on Harare for water,” the Chitrest executive director added.

She added that in 2021, she was voted Netherlands Gender Champion/Ambassador and received some money which she used to drill a solar-powered borehole at Key College in Unit K, Chitungwiza where the surrounding community draws its water.

Kuvheya also highlighted the other challenges blighting the populous settlement, including the accessibility of Nyatsime and the need for a ridge, especially during the rainy season, road rehabilitation, garbage collection, sewer bursts, poor drainage, the need for regularisation of houses, land barons and revival of industry among others.