Mgcini Dlamini
VICTORIA Falls residents are demanding that the government should award them the Zambezi water rights, as this would enable them tackle the devastating water crisis confronting the resort town.
Trymore Ndolo, Victoria Falls Combined Residents Association (VIFACORA) secretary general for Chinotimba township chapter briefed this publication that they have been pushing for the transfer of Zambezi river water rights to the local municipality and they are now awaiting the approval from the ministry of Local Government.
“All along we have been advocating for VFM (Victoria Falls Municipality) to reclaim water rights, a series of meetings were held and we just waiting for the ministry of local government to formally tell Zinwa (Zimbabwe National Water Authority) to hand over water rights to the people of Victoria Falls,” said Ndolo.
He added that reclaiming water rights would allow the municipality to construct new reservoirs.
“Above all, reclaiming water rights as residents will ease ways of addressing the water issue through construction of about two reservoirs in Mkhosana that will feed the new township that is on the pipeline, where about 500 will be allocated for residential purposes,” Ndolo said.
The VIFACORA secretary further declared that the water crisis in the resort town, located in Matabeleland North and boasts of one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is devastating.
“The water situation in Victoria Falls is terrible. They are sections where water goes for days without a single drop. It is quite a disgrace to me as a civic activist that whilst Zambezi is just a stone throw away Zinwa doesn’t have capacity in terms of equipment and human resource personnel,” said Ndolo.
July Moyo, local government minister, could not immediately comment on the matter as he was unreachable.
The resort town has been battling with a debilitating water crisis that has seen residents go for days without receiving tap water.
Victoria Falls town sits next to the Zambezi River which leads to the iconic fall that attracts thousands of tourists annually and was declared by the United Nations as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
