Chombo blasts Harare City Council

The government says it will not tolerate any excuses by the City of Harare about its failure to provide water, saying council has a mandate to provide efficient services to residents.

Following the announcement by the City of Harare that it will only be able to provide water three days a week for the next seven months, government says that will not be accepted as millions of lives will be put at risk.

Speaking at a residents meeting in Harare's Greendale suburb, Local Government, Rural and Urban Development Minister, Dr Ignatius Chombo said failure to prioritise service delivery has been a major challenge for the City of Harare.

"We will not have a situation whereby the city is saying it is failing to provide water. Sometimes it is because of sheer incompetence, we have areas which have no access to water for some years now because of incompetence. Chikurubi for example has gone for seven years without water as the City of Harare is failing to replace a pump which costs US$7 000," Dr Chombo said.

Harare is still battling to contain the typhoid outbreak and most residents are dependent on borehole water.

However, concern has been raised over the safety of the water sources due to seepage.