Hwange residents endure 12 years without running water  

BY NOTHANDO DUBE

Residents at a Hwange suburb have gone for more than 12 years without running water and must travel more than two kilometres to fetch the precious liquid.

Railton residents, including young children, endure the agony of travelling over two kilometres everyday to fetch water from suburbs such as Middleburg.

On their way to fetch water, some, especially women and children have been robbed of their gadgets such as cell phones while several of them have also broken their water buckets while trying to climb the hill with the water buckets on their heads.

This publication interviewed several Railton residents who described the last 12 years living in the area as a nightmare.

Some said they do as much as eight round trips to fetch water on a normal day. They said the local authority blames their predicament on the old piping system in the suburb.

At the height of Covid -19 pandemic, the Hwange Local Board tried to make some repairs but few months later the taps ran dry again.

“We are suffering and neglected in this area, and this is close to 15 years now without running water in this house,” said a 57-year-old widow.

“What surprises me is that at the start of Covid-19 water was restored for about three months and was available around the area.

“We then started having water once a week, but now there is totally nothing.

“Many of us here are widows and old aged yet we are expected to fetch water several times a day.

“It’s really hard because I have even broken six of My buckets trying to climb the steep rocky place back to my house.”

The residents said they feared disease outbreaks as the suburb had communal toilets and bathrooms.

They said Covid-19 prevention protocols such as social distancing was hard to observe at such places.

“We have had a diarrhoea outbreak at some point, and it has really been a nightmare,” said a resident who requested anonymity.

Some able-bodied residents are, however, capitalising on the water and charging US$ 1 to for two buckets of water.

At the Middleburg water point residents can only access the commodity between 5pm and 7pm as wells as 5am and 6 am.

A Hwange Residents Association committee member only identified as Rundofa said a lasting solution was needed for the Railton water crisis.

“The pipes are old and rotten,” Rundofa said. “We have tried to organise ourselves as the community to repair them and the local authority will be involved.”