The Chinhoyi Municipality has dismissed as fake news a report claiming that a vagrant drowned in one of the Council’s waterworks.
This comes after a message claiming Chinhoyi’s water shortage was being caused by a decomposing body inside the Council’s waterworks circulated on social media platforms.
The local authority’s spokesperson, Tichaona Mlauzi, described the message as an April Fools’ Day joke that was in bad taste. He said:
I think someone wanted to make an April Fools’ joke, but it was in bad taste.
We have not had any deaths at our waterworks plant.
If there had been a death at the plant, it would have been reported to the police.
We are law-abiding citizens and we report such issues to the police for them to take action.
It’s very unfortunate that the so-called joke has brought our municipality to the fore for the wrong reasons.
Zimbabwe’s urban settlements regularly experience water shortages due to challenges in procuring water treatment chemicals, power cuts to waterworks, as well as growing demand due to urbanisation.
More: Pindula News