Zimbabwe's perennial water crisis worrying

Zimbabwe's Perennial Water Crisis is worrying various stakeholders amid the observance of human rights, including socio-economic rights, participation rights and non-discrimination rights, is critical to good water governance.

Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development in a report said international human rights norms demand that priority be given to water and sanitation for vulnerable groups such as the very poor, displaced, disabled and elderly, and for women and children within all these groups.

"Section 77 of the Constitution provides that every person has the right to safe, clean, and potable water. The human right to water and sanitation reflects the growing recognition of the significance of social and economic rights in addressing poor urban and rural women's basic concerns as providers of food and care for young, sick and elderly family members," Zimcodd said.

"Currently, children are at risk of contracting bilharzia. The Ministry of Health and Child Care sent out a message informing the public of free information and treatment against bilharzia at schools and clinics to children below the age of 15 years from the 4th to 9th April 2022. However, the messages were delivered telephonically days after the program started and close to the program end date, giving little time for the population to respond adequately."

Zimcodd said the water situation in Zimbabwe is worse than in 2008, when Zimbabwe experienced the most devastating cholera outbreak in Africa in 15 years.

It noted that Zimbabwe is plagued by water borne diseases such as bilharzia, cholera, typhoid and dysentery that have no place in the 21st century and that are most prone in poverty-stricken areas.

"Numerous factors have contributed to the country's water problems, including the economic decline, droughts affecting water sources, the lack of maintenance of the old water infrastructure, the inability to procure the necessary chemicals to treat water sources, political struggles between the central government and opposition-controlled city councils and corruption," Zimcodd said.

"Zimbabwe's water and sanitation crisis has been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic which increased demand for access to clean water. In addition, COVID-19 saw the introduction of a nationwide lockdown which not only saw the introduction of restricted movement but in turn restrictions to accessing water sources."

Zimcodd said the water crisis has affected Zimbabwean's rights to water and sanitation as well as other rights interlinked to this, such as, the right to life, food and health.

"Many common water sources are often contaminated, giving rise to water borne diseases and outbreaks. In Zimbabwe, household access to safe, drinking water is a privilege. Not only is access to potable water a challenge, but there is no adequate waste and wastewater disposal services. This often leads to further contamination of water sources, especially during the rainy season when waste gets washed away into rivers and dams," it said.

"The full realization of the right to water has the potential to combat poverty, promote health and food security, and ease the caring and household burdens that hamper African women's enjoyment of a wide range of social and economic rights. In Zimbabwe, women and school-age children, especially girls, spend long hours in queues at crowded boreholes or narrow water wells to access water that may not be safe."

Zimcod said some are forced to risk their lives in an attempt to secure water late at night or in the early hours of the morning before the boreholes get crowded.

"The response to the water crisis must be engendered in order to adequately respond to the concerns and experiences of socially and economically marginalized women in different social, cultural, and economic contexts," it noted.