The Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Settlement, Perrance Shiri has been urged to issue a ministerial statement to Parliament over the water crises facing both urban and rural communities.
The call was made by MP for Warren Park, Shakespear Hamauswa (MDC Alliance). He said:
We raised an issue which is very important, the issue of water. We requested the minister responsible to give us a ministerial statement regarding what the government is doing to avert the crisis, not only in urban areas but also in rural areas.
We raised this request two times and this is the third time. Considering that Parliament will be on recess, we do not know what is going to happen regarding the crisis of water.
As I speak today, there is no water being pumped in Harare. The problem in Harare is a reflection of what is happening in most cities and rural areas, it is my humble request that the responsible minister may come to this House and give us a ministerial statement.
Hamauswa urged the responsible minister to declare the water situation a national disaster. He added:
As we speak, people in most constituencies in Harare are using contaminated water for their laundry and it is not good because we had outbreaks of cholera in previous years.
It is something that as parliamentarians and as government, we also need to take the water crisis as a national disaster.