More than a million toilet-less in Zimbabwe

AS controversy continues to engulf the recently released final results of the 2012 National Census by the Zimbabwe Statistics Agency (ZimStat), it has been revealed that about 1,6 million of the country's 13 million population have no access to any form of toilet facility and relieve themselves in the open.

The latest revelations of 24 percent coverage of toilets come at a time when the country is working at achieving Millennium Development Goal number 7C which mainly targets to halve, by 2015, the proportion of the world population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, inclusive of toilet facilities.

However, Environment, Water and Climate Minister Saviour Kasukuwere noted that water and sanitation were one of the key goals of the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim Asset) economic blueprint, which Government was steadfastly working on achieving.

He said in line with Zim Asset, Government would undertake various projects to address the urban water supply and sanitation infrastructure, construction of rural water supply, sanitation schemes, construction of dams and other conveyance systems.

"Water and sanitation are some of the key issues that have to be driven for the success of Zim Asset. As you might know, the document has a special section touching on both water and sanitation which I believe encompasses the issue of toilet facilities and further access to clean water by our citizens.

"You must realise that when talking about such things as toilets there is also a bearing on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, therefore our authorities have to push to address the shortages of toilets especially in our rural areas because at the end of the day this problem has a negative bearing on our environment," said Kasukuwere.

Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Dr Ignatius Chombo backed Kasukuwere's assertion, noting that his ministry was also urging councils to ensure proper accommodation for residents, which has the necessary toilet facilities.

"If you look at Zim Asset our goal is to at least improve the standard of living by constructing about 125 000 housing units in the country and this also goes to the construction of toilets because when you touch on ablution facilities, these have also to do with service delivery," said Dr Chombo.

The Bulawayo City Council has announced plans to rehabilitate equipment at wastewater treatment works which it noted had over the years grown obsolete and needed urgent replacement. The project, to be funded through borrowing, will cost at least $13 million.

According to the Zimstat national report, 33 percent of households in the country use flush toilets with Bulawayo having the largest proportion of households with the flush system type of toilets.

"About 33 percent of the households in the country mostly used flush toilets; the proportion of households which mostly used Blair toilets was about 22 percent while that which mostly used pit latrines was 13 percent.

"The largest proportions of households which mostly used flush toilets were in Bulawayo (93 percent) and Harare (85 percent)," reads the report.

Mashonaland West are third with 25,4 percent using the flush system, followed by Midlands at 24 percent, Matabeleland South is at 15,8 percent, Masvingo; 15,6 percent, Manicaland; 15,3 percent, Mashonaland East; 13,8 percent while Mashonaland Central has the lowest number of flush toilets at 10,5 percent.

On the low side, however, Matabeleland North has the highest number of its households that have no toilets at all and rely on the bush system, with figures showing that 56,3 percent of the province's households were engaging in open defecation.

Masvingo is second with 43,1 percent of its households having no toilets and Matabeleland South, third with 36,6 percent of its households having no toilets at all.

In Midlands Province 36,5 percent of households do not have any toilets, Mashonaland West; 27,6 percent, Mashonaland East; 23,4 percent, Mashonaland Central; 21,1 percent and Manicaland; 20,1 percent.

In Bulawayo Metropolitan Province only 1,3 percent do not have any form of toilets while in Harare just 0,4 percent do not have any form of toilet facility.

"There was a significant proportion - 24 percent - of households which were not using any type of toilet facility at all, the proportion of households without any toilet facility ranged from less than one percent in Harare to 56 percent in Matabeleland North," reads the report.

In terms of water, 75 percent of households in Zimbabwe have access to safe water, this meaning the remaining difference of 25 percent use unprotected sources to get their water.

"About 75 percent of households in Zimbabwe had access to safe water, 74 percent of the households in Manicaland had access to safe water while 71 percent of the households in Matabeleland North province had access to safe water, 64 percent of households in Mashonaland West had access to safe water.

"Matabeleland South Province had 67 percent, Midlands 67 percent, Mashonaland Central 69 percent, Mashonaland East 72 percent and Masvingo 64 percent, Harare had 94 percent and Bulawayo 96 percent," reads the report.

At least 38 percent of households in the country have their main source of water on their premises, while 26 and 20 percent respectively have their main source of water within 500 and between 500 and 1 000 metres of the facility and 12 percent had their main source of water from a distance of more than 1 000 metres.

In the case of communal tap users, about 14 percent had this facility on their premises, 67 percent within 500 metres, 14 percent between 500 and 1 000 metres and about five percent covered a distance of more than 1 000 metres.