BULAWAYO mayor David Coltart has warned water suppliers who sell the precious liquid to residents to stop stealing from the city’s sources for resale, saying it is an offence which can land one behind bars.
He issued the warning during a Water Situation Update meeting at the Large City Hall on Wednesday this week.
The meeting concluded that the water situation has reached a precarious state as dam levels are at 30% capacity.
The critical levels mean in a month or two, Bulawayo could run dry while more dams would be decommissioned earlier than the pegged time.
Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has adopted different water rationing strategies meant to soften the situation.
Rather, some strategies bring more harm than cure as 40% to 60% of the 2 500km city water network in Bulawayo is over 50 years thus, the situation is uncontrollable.
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In light of these revelations, Coltart warned water bowser operators highlighted in the presentation as the immediate vandals of city property, urging residents to capture on camera anyone caught in the act.
“One of the things that appalled me in our meeting on Monday was the report to me regarding commercial enterprises which are maliciously interfering with our water delivery systems, going in and breaking our valves and extracting water into large volumes and I presume selling that water,” Coltart said.
“The police were engaged on that and they said they [vandals] must be charged with theft, they are stealing the city’s water and not paying for it. They should also be charged with malicious damage to city property.”
Coltart said bowser operators, who vandalise council property, were stealing water that should be delivered to residents, thus an action benefiting 20 people put thousands at risk.
“It is a criminal conduct. Those companies and those individuals who are doing this are now under arrest. If we catch you, we want the full force of the law to be brought against you and your companies,” Coltart said.
“We want the seizure of the vehicles and the water bowsers that you are using to do this heinous activity.
“But all of us have a role to play as residents. If you see people illegally taking water, please get your phone out and photograph and send it in.”
The mayor asked residents to use water responsibly as the immediate solution presented by the engineer meant decommissioning Upper Ncema Dam earlier than the stipulated time.
“The engineer has advised us that we have to release water from Upper Ncema to Lower Ncema, two months earlier than we had planned. That means we are decommissioning Upper Ncema two months earlier than we thought we would have to,” Coltart said.
He also revealed that the city had received funds for the rehabilitation of the pipeline meant to ease water-rationing.
“I need to stress that we have had constructive engagements. We engaged the Ministry of Finance in March and April this year,” Coltart said.
“Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Mthuli Ncube promised in April that government will disperse US$14 million to address what I have just spoken about.
“He has dispersed, to date, US$1,5 million of that US$14 million promised to get us through the season.”