POLICE on Tuesday summoned the Bulawayo Town Clerk and the Director of Engineering Services for questioning over the June 23 closure of water supply to White City Stadium, where President Emmerson Mnangagwa addressed a Zanu PF rally.
Police knocked at the offices of Christopher Dube, the town clerk, and Simela Dube, the director of engineering services, but found them in a meeting.
The pair later went to the District Criminal Investigations Office to meet the Officer Commanding Police Law and Order Assistant Commissioner Makoni and Chief Superintendent Mkashi, the Officer Commanding the CID Homicide Department.
It was not clear what criminal offence had been committed. Bulawayo City Council spokeswoman Nesisa Mpofu said only the police could comment about why the pair were summoned. Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Precious Simango said she was out of the office and had no information.
At the rally – which ended in tragic scenes after a bomb went off killing two aides of Vice Presidents Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi and wounding 44 others – Mnangagwa appeared to suggest the water had been deliberately cut off to spite Zanu PF by the MDC-T run council.
“I’m disappointed by urban councils. Roads are poor, service delivery is poor,” Mnangagwa began. “I hear the Bulawayo City Council has cut water supply to this place (White City Stadium). What nonsense is that? The power of the council comes from the people. You’re the people who voted for them but they deny you water. I say take them out! Take them out!”
The BCC’s Mpofu told ZimLive.com that the water problem experienced on the day at White City was a consequence of scheduled repairs which had not gone as planned.
She explained: “The City of Bulawayo has been carrying out a routine exercise of reservoir cleaning at Magwegwe reservoir since last year. The exercise continued for 2018 on March 6, 2018, as shown on advert 6211 in the local print and electronic media.
“Reservoir cleaning is a routine, mainly targeted when there is low water demand in winter. The city has in the past carried this exercise in other reservoirs such as Criterion, Fernhill and Tuli among others. For Magwegwe reservoir this has not been done for the past five years.
“The exercise involved desludging and cleaning of the Magwegwe Reservoir which feeds the following and the surrounding suburbs: Cowdray Park, Emakhandeni, Luveve, Magwegwe North, Magwegwe West, Entumbane, Mpopoma, Pelandaba, Matshobane, Iminyela, Mabutweni (Where White City Stadium is located), Njube and St Peters Village.
“Since March, all the compartments had been cleaned except Numbers 5 & 6 which were ongoing from mid-June 2018. Due to the size and nature of the compartments, BCC carried out a dummy run to ensure water supply disruptions are limited. Scouring and emptying of these compartments had started and was slowly emptying as they are one of the largest ones for the reservoir, hence the high demand on the remaining compartments resulting in low pressure in some of these areas including White City Stadium.
“During the exercise, Council also faced challenges with the jammed valves and the scour pipeline which had blocked resulting in heavy water losses flowing along Masiyephambili Drive. The operation team was on the ground to rectify the water supply disruption and finished well in time by mid-morning of June 23, 2018, the day scheduled for the Presidential rally. However, due to the size and high demand on the remaining four compartments, the build-up of the reservoir took a long time to fill to normalise water supply to the affected areas.”
Lot Siziba, the local councillor whose area covers White City, rejected Mnangagwa’s claims, insisting that failing council infrastructure should be blamed on the government.
“There had been no water for two days prior to the rally due to water pipe bursts. The piping is too old, since they were installed in 1952. They’re the ones (Zanu PF government) who take the council funds to Harare and they now want to put the blame on us. This is why we say we want devolution of power,” he said.
