City of Harare needs to improve services

City Watch, 09 February 2010

The City of Harare still has a long way to go to improve municipal service delivery. The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) notes with concern that the Council is not doing much in revamping the virtually collapsed service delivery system that has seen the city being marred with piles of uncollected refuse in the residential areas, potholed roads, dysfunctional street lights and persistent water cuts among a myriad of other mishaps.

Water supply

The water situation remains a challenge as most areas are still experiencing dry spells. Areas like Msasa Park only receive water once a week, while areas like Mabvuku-Tafara, Glen Lorne, parts of Greendale, Greystone Park and Mandara are still experiencing perennial dry spells.

The New stands area in Mabvuku Tafara has not received any water supplies for more than a year now. Most of the boreholes that had been drilled in the area are no longer working. Residents have resorted to digging shallow wells at their homesteads but some of the wells have dried up due to the limited rainfall.

Herentials College and the Church of Later Day Saints have been providing residents with clean water from their boreholes but the supplies are not enough to meet the high demand for water. The borehole located at the Bridge in Old Tafara is the one that is still working among the boreholes that were drilled by UNICEF in Mabvuku-Tafara. The table below shows the water situation in some of the Harare suburbs.

AREA	WATER QUALITY	AVAILABILITY	SEWER
Dzivarasekwa	Good	Sections 83 to 100 haven’t been getting water for the past 3 years. However, the rest of Dzivarasekwa has been getting regular supplies.
Mufakose	Good but some residents are boiling water for drinking. Some residents are buying water treatment  tablets and JIK at Shops& Pharmacies	Uninterrupted and continuous water supplies for the past month but the pressure of the water is usually low.	Frequent sewer bursts near Rukudzo bar in Ward 34. The City of Harare dug a trench to fix the sewer pipes along Kufudzamombe and Mhishi Roads but the trench has been lying in state for the past six months
Mabvuku-Tafara	The quality is poor as residents usually get water from unprotected sources	-No Municipal tap water for the past 6 months while some areas have gone for a year. Most of the boreholes that were sunk in the area are not working. -The area near Tafara District Offices has not received water supplies for the past 5 years. -Residents wash their clothes at Gosden River. Others do their laundry at shallow wells dug near Chemanza Grounds.	Sewer burst are no longer common in the area.
Glen Norah	Residents have complained that the water leaves some brownish particles if left to settle in a container.	Water supplies are regular in some areas while some get supplies for at least four times a week.
Kuwadzana	The water has some brown particles. Cases of diarrhea have been reported and some residents are now boiling the water before drinking.	24 Hours per day during the past few weeks.
Glen View and Budiriro	The water is usually greenish in colour and residents have requested CHRA to source water treatment tablets. Cases of diarrhea have been on the increase since January 2010.	The two suburbs have been receiving water only during weekends for the past two months. Some of the boreholes that were sunk in the area are no longer working.	Glen View 3 has been experiencing sewer bursts since the festive season. Raw sewer has been flowing into household yards along 1st Drive in Glen View 3.
Kambuzuma and Rugare	The water quality is poor as it has visible brownish particles. Residents usually boil the water before drinking.	Residents get supplies almost on a daily basis but this is only for a few hours a day.	Cases of sewerage bursts have decreased since December 2009.

Electricity

Areas like Glen Norah, Glen View, Highfield and Budiriro usually experience power cuts at least twice a week. However, there are times when residents in these areas can experience power cuts at least three times within a single day. Mbare, Dzivarasekwa and Avondale West is experiencing power cuts on a daily basis while areas like Msasa Park, Cranborne, Hatfield and Queensdale get power cuts at least thrice a week.

There is an area in Mabvuku near Kamunhu Shopping Centre that has been without electricity since October 2009. This has been due to a faulty transformer that has not been fixed in spite of the numerous requests by residents to ZEDC to fix the transformer. However, ZEDC has been serving residents with exorbitant electricity bills despite the fact that supplies are highly limited.

Residents have complained that ZEDC’s load shedding is not uniform and this has resulted in residents losing their electric appliances to short circuits that are caused by sudden power cuts. Residents have, in the past raised these concerns with ZEDC but the power utility has not done anything to rectify the problem. ZEDC once came up with a load shedding schedule that was flighted in the print media but the schedule was never adhered to.

Refuse collection

The City of Harare is still failing to collect refuse in most suburbs around the city and this has resulted in the increased mushrooming of informal dumping sites. Areas like Mupedzanhamo in Mbare have become an eyesore and health time bomb due to the piles of uncollected refuse that have become breeding ground for flies and mosquitoes.

Conclusion

CHRA encourages the City of Harare and the Government to look into the issues of waste management and water provision in Harare as a matter of urgency. There is a need to come up with sustainable systems of waste management and water provision so as to curb the persistent problem of diarrheal disease outbreaks in the city. CHRA remains committed to advocating for good and transparent local governance as well as lobbying for quality municipal services. Combined Harare Resident’s Association.