'Borehole pregnancies' soar

TAPIWA Nguwo is a two-year-old girl, whose instinct to explore is at its peak. Growing up in a community that spends over two months without water poses a health threat to the minor, as she risks contracting diseases such as typhoid and diarrhoea.

For Nguwo's mother, Marvellous Pembamoyo (32), her worry is not only the unavailability of water in her community, but the ripple effects of the problem on her family's social life.

She is more concerned with her deaf daughter, whom she described as "a reserved" girl vulnerable to abuse.

Pembamoyo said because of the magnitude of water woes in Unit J, Seke in Chitungwiza, where the community has not received a drop over the past eight weeks, the family had no option, but to ask their daughter to join the rest of the family members in scavenging for the precious liquid.

"Boys take advantage of her condition to flirt and I fear what will happen to her if she is alone in such company," she said.

Florence Garabha (36) had a different story to tell.

"My teen girls spend over six hours at the nearby borehole in the queue and my fears were confirmed when I found out that one of them engaged in sex when I sent her to the borehole," she said.

Hesler Muronga (15) told of how three teen boys had circled her after quarrelling over who was first in the queue around 9pm.

She said after being in the queue for over five hours, she confronted the boys, who kept on getting more and more buckets and pumping water, while she had not fetched a single bucket.

"Instead of discussing the issue at hand, the boys started touching me, one of them touched my breasts and the other one my buttocks. When I realised their intentions, I screamed and that is when some of the people in the queue came to my rescue," she said, revealing that she now had reservations with fetching water at night.

A councillor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there were men who were taking advantage of the water woes to advance love proposals to girls and desperate women.

"Obviously, in any crisis, women and girls are the worst affected because there are people who are in the habit of advancing their sexual intentions," he said, adding that there was talk in his constituency of a girl, who had been sexually harassed at the borehole.

The councillor called on parents to ensure that girls moved in groups and avoid sending them to the borehole at night.

One resident, however said because of the magnitude of the problem, families have no option, but to send the girls to fetch water.

"The environment promotes early sexual debut. Girls should not be sent to such places, but we have no choice," Dananai Hungwe said.

She said because there were boys, who enjoyed taking advantage of girls, teenagers ended up engaging in sexual activities.

Hungwe revealed that her 17-year old daughter had been impregnated by a boy of the same age after having gone to fetch water at night.

A 16-year-old girl from Unit D alleged that one of the men, who controls the queue at the nearby borehole had proposed love to her, promising that she would be priviledged to be the chef's girlfriend and she would not stand in the queue.

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 commits the Zimbabwean government to provide clean and safe water and sanitation for all.

While the SDGs are a non-binding framework to co-ordinate global development efforts over the next 15 years, the idea is to keep the efforts of governments, development partners, foundations, banks and civil society organisations including communities moving in the same direction, a legal expert from the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association, who for professional reasons cannot be identified, said.

Marvellous Khumalo, the director of Chitungwiza Residents' Trust, notes that, while the dire water situation forced many families to rely on water from unsafe sources such as wells and boreholes, those in need of water walked long distances for it.

"The deteriorating water situation has left many women and girls in the town with limited time, as in most instances they are now forced to abandon their economically productive chores for the scarce liquid," he said, adding that the unavailability of water placed women and girls at risk of other social ills including abuse.

Through the Zimbabwe United Nations Development Assistance Framework 2016-2020 report, the government pledged to assist and create an environment that promotes and ensures that key public sector institutions mobilise, manage and account for resources effectively for quality service delivery.

In the social service delivery cluster, one of the expected outcomes is to ensure that key institutions provide quality and equitable basic social services to citizens including children.

Labour and Social Welfare minister Prisca Mupfumira said the government was working with other United Nations agencies in programmes that ensure that girls' rights are upheld.

"We want girls to grow up in an environment that promotes and guarantees that they realise their full potential and protects them from all forms of exploitation," she said.