Mwalimu J Nyerere mourned Africa's 'struggle to cross the street' in Zimbabwe, the streets are overflowing with sewage!

There have been two articles by a Concerned Nketa 9 Resident and by a Chitugwiza Resident showing the all too familiar sight in Zimbabwe, overflowing sewage. The blocked sewage system is a manifestation of the other problem the nations has often talked about but, of course, done fcuk all about – running water. We need running water for the sewage system to work.

There is no growth point, town or city in Zimbabwe that has not had the problem of no running water. None! When you learn that key institutions like Chikurumbi Maximum Security Prison have not had running water for ten years continuous you begin to appreciate the problem and why I said the nation has done fcuk all about it.

When there is no running water you flash the toilets when absolutely have to. One does not need to ask where the toilet is in many Zimbabwean homes and institutions; you can smell it.

The late Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, the first President of Tanzania, said "The Americans have sent a man to the moon and meanwhile we in Africa are still struggle to figure how to cross the street!"
There was nearly fifty years ago, he said that; in Zimbabwe, the streets are gone!   

The asphalt paved streets we inherited at independence 35 years ago are all gone what is left is pot-holed streets with the occasional patch of asphalt. The pot-holes are full of overflowing sewage. There are evergreen grass and bushes growing on the edges showing that the overflowing sewage is not a recent problem but a permanent feature.

The whole house and neighbour smell foul; gone are the days one would smell the good cooking wafting in the air all you smell now is nauseating sewage. Mwalimu was worried about cross the street; we destroyed the street and we are now drowning in our own sewage. Of course this is a problem of our own making.

We have a president who is on holiday in the Far East, for example, at great national expense. He is a regular visitor to Singapore, in 2012 he was there eight times at $3 million a trip. This time he is there with his extended family for a whole month and the trip will cost $ 12 million at least.

Before Mugabe has returned home, there are preparations afoot for his birth-party in Victoria Falls. Anyone who is anyone will be there and all at taxpayers' expense.

Millions of Zimbabweans are being forced to live without something as basic as running water and yet we are squandering millions of dollars on unparalleled luxuries for a few. It is any wonder that the nation has failed to maintain the streets and other infrastructure we inherited from the white at independence let alone built on it to achieve greater things.

The nation has been warned repeatedly of the serious health risks of having no clean running water but no one is listening. In 2008 there was a cholera outbreak and 4 200 people died; the count would have been a lot worse if Western donors had not stepped in to deal with the problem.

Yes Mwalimu Nyerere we have not made any progress on the challenge of how to cross the street; we have destroyed the asphalt paved streets of colonial days into pot-holes overflowing with sewage. We are drowning in our own sewage smell as we await foreigners to tell us we should not drink contaminated water; that is as much we have regressed in 35 years of independence! At this rate we will be very lucky if in a hundred years everyone have clean running water; as for advancing enough to aspire for space travel, there are some nations that too disorganised to ever reach those heights.