Water protest to rock Bulawayo

Tomorrow on the 4th September 2015, the citizens of the City of Bulawayo will wake up to the reverberation sound of toyi-toyi from angry activists from civic organisation who have organised a demonstration against the decision by the City Council to go ahead with the installation of pre-paid water meters. The demonstration is organised under the umbrella of the Right2Water campaign.

The march will start at 12 O'clock noon at the Large City Hall and will proceed to Stanley Square.

"We will be presenting the City fathers with our petition which will detail our concerns over the installation of the pre-paid meters" said Thuli, one of the organisers of the march. "This is a fight we are prepared to engage in at all costs, we believe that the right to water is a fundamental human right which should not be tampered with" she continued.

The City of Bulawayo has resolved to install pre-paid water meters in all homesteads; this move is totally unpopular amongst the people of Bulawayo. The major concerns or resistance to the installation of these pre-paid meters revolves around simple reasons, such as the lack of employment in the City. People feel that the timing totally misses the whole point as the majority of the people are not employed. "At least if the Council wants to install these meters it has to wait until the economic situation improves and the majority of our people become employed, otherwise our people will not afford to pay for the water" Thuli explained.

The pre-paid water meters will simply mean that toilets will not be flushed, there would be no water for cooking or drinking for the majority of the people and this will have unmitigated effects  such as a plethora of diseases which might decapitate the people in the City.

"We invite every Bulawayo citizen who will be affected by this to come out in full force tomorrow to show the City Fathers our disgust and anger. This will be just the beginning; we should be prepared to walk the length relentlessly pursuing our goal - The right to water to every one".