BINGA centre in Matabeleland North province has been hit by a critical water shortage, with the local legislator saying the business centre remains dry despite the heavy rains that have been experienced across Zimbabwe.
In an interview with Southern Eye this week, Binga South MP Fanuel Cumanzala bemoaned the water crisis that has gone on for a long time.
He said the water shortages have been critical, threatening both residents and the business community in the centre.
“Binga centre is having water problems and it is not looking good. Businesses are being greatly impacted by this situation,” Cumanzala said.
“Water is an essential resource needed to run many things, but without the precious liquid, people with businesses are struggling.”
Meanwhile, Cumanzala expressed happiness over the water situation in rural communities after the rains that have pounded Zimbabwe in recent weeks.
“In rural areas, they are having more rain, but the problem is that the water is fetched from unsafe water sources,” he said.
He said nothing had been done ever since the government promised to bring rigs to drill more boreholes in rural areas.
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“The borehole drilling situation has not changed at all,” Cumanzala said.
“Nothing was done by government to date.”
Sometime in April last year, Cumanzala disputed the claims by Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs and Devolution minister Richard Moyo that borehole drilling had commenced in the area.
Cumanzala said he confirmed from the residents that stay in the hardest hit areas and nothing is being done at all.
He said the water situation in Binga South is further worsening affecting women and girls who are forced to walk long distances to get the precious liquid.
Cumanzala said villagers in his constituency are walking long distances in search of water which is increasingly becoming scarce in the district.
He said wards 4, 12 and 25 were the hardest hit by water challenges.
Moyo promised to engage the Zimbabwe National Water Authority over the matter.
Moyo said the drilling of boreholes under the presidential borehole drilling scheme has commenced in some parts of Binga South, where villagers are facing water challenges after their sources dried up due to a prolonged dry spell.
He said drilling rigs were already on the ground.
Moyo said the government had disbursed a number of solar system kits.
Binga faces water challenges despite being situated on the banks of the giant Zambezi River, the fourth longest river in Africa.
