Varsity students wary of health time bomb

Thousands of Midlands State University students fear for an outbreak of a disease-related disaster following incessant water shortages.

A good day without water?

Senga suburb adjacent to the varsity is home to scores of students who cannot get accommodation at their learning institution to limited facilities, has been experiencing serious water shortages. 

 According to sources close to the local authority, the problem is that the suburb now needs complete re-lining of the water system as the existing one, already worn out with age, is being overburdened by the increased population.

“The problem is that no one is coming to address us. We have now gone for two weeks without water. There are community boreholes but we find it difficult to access the water because they are few and cannot withstand our numbers. Ablution facilities in the houses we rent are no longer suitable for use and the real danger is an outbreak of diseases,” said Peter Tirivavi, a third year local languages student.

The MSU Great Hall

Primrose Makanje, 23, who is studying music, said four to six students are made to share a room in Senga because the houses are not enough. 
“So it means a house with six rooms may have about 30 people inside and when there is no water and everyone is using one ablution room, it leaves all open to diseases like cholera. That is our fear now,” she said.

Mayor Hamutendi Kombayi said the problem was being dealt with. “I do not think it’s going to be a permanent problem,” he said.

The city’s 2015 budget makes provision for $2 million to deal with refurbishment of the water system in Gweru.- The Zimbabwean