Byo’s dry spell: Govt steps in as residents pray f...

Byo’s dry spell: Govt steps in as residents pray for rain

Nyashadzashe Ndoro

Lands, Agriculture, Water, Fisheries and Rural Development Minister Anxious Masuka said the government has the prerogative of intervening when local authorities are failing to deliver critical services like water to the residents.

This comes after legislators last Wednesday raised concerns about the water crisis in Bulawayo, where residents can go weeks without water.

The Minister acknowledged the problem and explained that local authorities fall under the Ministry of Local Government’s purview. He, however, highlighted provisions within the Water Act and Zimbabwe National Water Authority Act that allow the President to authorise intervention.

The Minister revealed that similar interventions had already been undertaken in Harare and Bulawayo through technical committees. These committees were established to address water challenges and expedite service delivery.

“In terms of the Water Act and the Zinwa Act, there is a possibility of the President to direct the Minister responsible for water to intervene to assist the council to rectify the water problem as what happened with the City of Harare where we appointed a technical committee of experts headed by a university professor to complement the City of Harare to then expedite the provision of water to residents.

“Similarly, we invoked the provisions of the Zinwa Act and Water Act to assist the City of Bulawayo to provide water to its residents. The technical committees are working well. The process that triggers this is failure by the local authorities to provide a service that is expected of them, such as the delivery of safe, potable, available and affordable water to residents,” the Minister said.

Masuka emphasised the government’s zero-tolerance policy for failing to deliver basic services. He pointed to a directive for local authorities to establish a roadmap for providing essential services, including water, by June 30, 2024.

He also mentioned the Ministry of Local Government’s scrutiny of local authority budgets to ensure proper resource allocation for service delivery.

Bulawayo Mayor, David Coltart last week directed the city to turn to prayer for solutions.

“The water situation is affecting mostly the poor people in the high density suburbs. They go from suburb to suburb searching for water because they cannot afford to buy jojo tanks and drill boreholes, among other things,” Coltart said.

“This is the very reason why we saw it fit to hold the prayer day and thanks-giving meeting.

“There are a lot of scriptures which speak about the fact that the Lord has not forgotten us, there is purpose in the situation.

“We need to pray for funding in order to address the water situation.”