The government has refused to declare Bulawayo a water disaster area, attributing the city’s water crisis to mismanagement by local authorities rather than a national emergency.
Minister of Justice, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs, Ziyambi Ziyambi, who also serves as the leader of government business in Parliament, revealed this stance on Wednesday while responding to questions from legislators.
Unlike other cities, Bulawayo has faced a severe raw water shortage for decades, a situation that residents and local leaders say requires immediate attention. The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) reported that the city’s supply dams are down to just 29% capacity, intensifying calls for government intervention and external funding to address the crisis.
However, Ziyambi dismissed these concerns, stating that the government does not believe the situation warrants a national disaster declaration. He accused Bulawayo’s city officials of mismanagement, which he said has worsened the crisis.
“We have refrained from declaring a disaster where we feel there is mismanagement by our local authorities. The majority of our local authorities, including Harare, even have their billing systems in shambles,” Ziyambi said.
“If there are local authorities that should not be broke, they are Harare and Bulawayo, but for the past 20 or so years, they have failed in their roles as city leaders.”
Ziyambi added that before the government could consider declaring a disaster, it needed to address the administrative failures of the council.
“We are now working to upgrade the systems because they have failed. When we feel that we need help after dealing with our local authorities, then we can act, but for now, we do not believe there is an issue that requires a national disaster declaration,” he added.
Ziyambi’s response came after Bulawayo MP Dr Thokozani Khupe questioned why the government had not declared the city a water shortage area to allow stakeholders to mobilize resources.
She stressed that such a declaration could help Bulawayo access external funding and bring a permanent resolution to the crisis, noting that many residents had gone weeks without water, forcing them to rely on unsafe sources and raising the risk of waterborne diseases like cholera and diarrhoea.
Dr Khupe pointed out that the government has been rehabilitating boreholes in the Nyamandlovu aquifer, a critical water source for Bulawayo, but that the water output has fallen dramatically, exacerbating the city’s water woes.
“My question is motivated by the fact that since 2023, the government has been rehabilitating part of the 22 broken boreholes in the Nyamandlovu aquifer as a way of restoring the volume of pumped water to Bulawayo to 16 megalitres per day amid the prevailing water shortages,” said Dr Khupe. “The aquifer water has dropped to about five megalitres per day, against a potential of 26.”
In response, Ziyambi claimed the government was committed to solving Bulawayo’s water problems and acknowledged the importance of the Gwayi-Shangani project. “Once that is complete, we will solve the problem of water,” he stated.
The minister also disputed Bulawayo Mayor David Coltart’s assertions that the city has a shortage of raw water, saying the immediate shortages are due to outdated infrastructure rather than insufficient water resources.
“What we have realised is that the current water shortages in Bulawayo are not due to insufficient raw water, but because the water reticulation system is outdated,” Ziyambi said. “We have agreed that instead of scattering projects across the country, we will focus on one area and refurbish it completely before moving on to the next.”
Ziyambi also announced that Bulawayo would be the first city to benefit from a planned overhaul of the country’s water reticulation systems, though he did not provide a timeline.
“We are going to start with Bulawayo because we need to replace all the pipes and redo the water reticulation system to ensure continuous water delivery. This is not a project that will be completed overnight, but we have committed to starting with Bulawayo, even before the completion of the Gwayi-Shangani project,” Ziyambi stated.
Meanwhile, Dr Khupe urged the government to accelerate its efforts, calling on ministers to push the Ministry of Finance to adequately fund the Gwayi-Shangani project, which has been in development for years and is seen as key to resolving Bulawayo’s water crisis.
“I would urge you ministers to push the Minister of Finance to adequately fund the Gwayi-Shangani project because once that happens, Bulawayo’s problems will be a thing of the past. There will be a green belt, allowing communities to grow crops, and poverty and hunger will be a thing of the past,” she said.
Despite these discussions, residents remain frustrated, accusing the government of politicizing essential services and ignoring the city’s urgent needs. They argue that the failure to declare Bulawayo a water disaster area is an indirect form of sabotage, preventing the city from accessing the external resources it desperately needs to resolve the crisis.
