Zimpapers Logo

George Maponga in Masvingo

Bere Clinic in the mining town of Mashava has been without running water for over two weeks after pumps that supply the commodity were submerged in the flooded Tugwi River.

The clinic, with a catchment of over 30 000 people in and around Mashava gets its water from Tugwi but the river has been in flood for sometime now after the spilling of Muzhwi Dam upstream.

Lack of water supplies at the clinic and the entire mining tow has severely affected operations at the health service centre.
The Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) is scrambling to deploy water bowsers to rescue the situation.

Ward 5 Councillor Aleta Makomeke under which  Bere Clinic falls, says the situation is dire.
“The clinic has been without water for over two weeks now and things are bad at the moment. Zinwa had provisionally tried to deploy water bowsers to the health institution but this suffered a stillbirth after their vehicle broke down,” she said.
Cllr Makomeke however was upbeat the situation will improve after the intervention of the Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Ezra Chadzamira.
She disclosed that Minister Chadzamira had sourced some equipment to rehabilitate a broken down borehole they hope will start supplying water to the the health centre soon.

Zinwa is also expected to retrieve the submerged pumps once water levels in Tugwi subside.
Most of the infrastructure in Mashava is in a state of disrepair owing to neglect and lack of water at Bere Clinic is a dearth knell on the mining town’s prospects to rise from the ashes and help in the fight against Covid-19.