Marondera faces water purification chemicals shortage

MARONDERA Municipality is running out of water purification chemicals amid indications that the town is left with only a week supply.

Engineer Christopher Chineka revealed this during a tour of the town’s water supply dam, Rufaro last week.

“We are left with one week supply of chlorine, an essential water purification chemical.

“There is need for funds to acquire these chemicals and currently there is none,” he told the delegation that made the tour and comprised the Minister of State for Mashonaland East Province Apolonia Munzverengi and the provincial Civil Protection Unit (CPU) committee.

“Our water purification plant needs also to be revamped and extended to meet the demand.

“Currently we are unable to meet water demand for Marondera residents and the situation has been like this for a long time,” he said.

He, however, commended the Government for availing funds, which he said will be channelled to water reticulation.

“There are funds which the Govern- THE Grain Marketing Board (GMB) will open more collection points as part of efforts to de-congest its depots countrywide, an official has said.

The move comes in the wake of complaints by farmers over delays in getting served at the depots while delivering grain.

In a statement, GMB corporate communications manager Mr Joseph Katete said they were making efforts to open more to make sure our water is clean. The mayor and I need to join hands and work hard to see that residents get clean and adequate water on a daily basis,” she said.

She called on the municipality to urgently come up with a detailed proposal on what is needed for the municipality to function and improve service delivery.

She said water-borne diseases like cholera will continue to haunt the people if water continues to be contaminated.

Before her visit to the water purification plant, Minister Munzverengi and the CPU team visited Marondera Provincial Hospital where she took time to visit a cholera patient.

Meanwhile, 17 suspected cholera cases had been reported across the province as of Wednesday this week.

Of the 17 reported cases, five were confirmed to be cholera cases. The minister commended the health staff for working around the clock to save lives.

“I want to commend our health personnel here for working hard and their dedication to contain the outbreak.

“I am told that since the first report of suspected cholera cases in the province, not even a single death has been reported, this is commendable,” she said.

“We are happy to say that situation at GMB Chipinge, for instance, has already been attended to and that the reported delay was caused by an operational issue.

“The depot had reached its full capacity, therefore, management had resorted to moving Presidential Inputs to create space for new intake. The farmers were attended to after more space had been created,” he said.

Further to that, the GMB is in the process of installing 26 additional weighbridges at its busiest depots.