Community activists in Bulawayo have been urged to employ non-violent tactics when engaging local stakeholders on the water crisis in the city.
Bulawayo is currently going through a serious water crisis due to successive droughts.
This has seen residents accessing water once a week forcing them to rely on boreholes and other water sources.
This came out during a training of trainers meeting held on Friday with community water champions hosted by Bulawayo Water Action (BUWA) in conjunction with Community Water Alliance, a social movement from Harare.
BUWA coordinator, Khumbulani Maphosa said the purpose of the training was to encourage the water champions to be actively involved in monitoring, preserving and documenting water issues in their communities in a non-violent manner.
“We had Bulawayo water action training of trainers workshop where we were encouraging our local chapters that we have to be actively involved in monitoring, preserving and documenting water issues in their communities in a non-violent manner,” said Maphosa.
He said the key issues that emanated from the meeting was the issue of victimisation of women, girls and children at water points.
“The key issues that are coming out is that in alternative water points that are there, women, girls and children are being victimised and violated especially by men and young boys.
We heard cases of intimidation happening in those places and some of those places are not even safe, to us the key message was non-violent activism of water issues which is also non-discriminatory and non-partisan,” said Maphosa.
Meanwhile, the national coordinator for Community Water Alliance, Hardlife Mudzingwa said the purpose of the meeting was obviously to build a movement on the ground where citizens take the initiative to engage different departments to urgently address issues of access of water for Bulawayo.
“We were invited to cross pollinate sharing experiences from our side in Harare and also learn from them how they are also doing. The purpose of the meeting was obviously to build a movement on the ground where citizens take the initiative to engage different departments in tiers of government to urgently address issues of access to water for Bulawayo which is now a constitutional right,” said Mudzingwa.
He noted that the government and other stakeholders should prioritise issues of water in the City following that it is marked as the Covid-19 hotspot in the Country.
“And also we should help in other two areas dealing with water borne diseases which were experienced in Luveve and other areas in the City and knowing of cause the context of Covid-19 that amongst the Covid-19 prevention protocols, chief amongst them is hand washing with soap and running water, so it becomes very important that Bulawayo as an area which is also touted as a hotspot of Covid-19 in the Country priority be given both by government and other stakeholders inclusive of the non- governmental organisations,” he said.
Mudzingwa also encouraged the water champions to be informed with facts to be able to engage the local authority on water issues.
