Mayor of Zimbabwe’s capital declares, wrongfully, that city’s tap water is safe for human consumption - VOA

“… [T]he water that is coming out of our taps is safe for human consumption, and it is safe for the residents. We treat water that comes from Lake Chivero and Lake Manyame thoroughly to make sure that we don’t put in our system water that is contaminated or that is harmful to the residents.”

In Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, residents have complained throughout December that tap water is "dirty, smells of sewage and often pitch-black colored."

The main source of water here is Lake Chivero, which is highly contaminated by toxins, including leaking sewer pipes.

Journalists asked the mayor of Harare, Jacob Mafume, about the polluted water supplied to the residents at a Dec. 17 press conference. Mafute answered that the city of Harare provides clean water to the residents.

"…[T]he water that is coming out of our taps is safe for human consumption, and it is safe for the residents,” he said. “We treat water that comes from Lake Chivero and Lake Manyame thoroughly to make sure that we don’t put in our system water that is contaminated or that is harmful to the residents."

That is false.

There is ample evidence that tap water in Harare is frequently to blame for waterborne diseases, making it unsafe for the 1.5 million people living there.

Mafume’s claim outraged Harare residents, who responded by sharing photographs and videos of the dirty tap water from their kitchens on social media, saying it smelled like sewage.

In multiple statements since December 17, Mafume acknowledged the city is dealing with water pollution issues. He again asserted the city is providing safe drinking water but also suggested boiling the water before consumption.

On Dec. 18, VOA reported that sewage-polluted water from Lake Chivero had killed four white rhinos along with thousands of wildlife, including zebras, fish and birds, among other animals and livestock.

A Zimbabwean Parks and Wildlife Management spokesperson, Tinashe Farawo, told VOA News that the animals died after "drinking bacteria-polluted water at Lake Chivero Recreational Park, about 20 kilometers west of the capital, Harare."

Contrary to Mafume’s assurances, the city has not proven capable of providing sufficient clean water to residents. At maximum capacity, Harare’s water purifying facility, Morton Jaffrey plant, provides the city 750 megaliters a day. That is only half of Harare’s daily demand of 1,400 megaliters of clean drinking water, according to the city of Harare administration sources.

Amkela Sidange, spokesperson for the Environmental Management Agency of Zimbabwe, told VOA that the "city of Harare on its own ... contributes about 219 megaliters of raw and partly treated sewer [water] that is discharged into the environment on a daily basis."

Most travel advisory websites, including Canada-based World Travel Index, a source of global data, recommend that travelers avoid drinking tap water in Harare, deeming it a health hazard.

The issue is decades old and has not been solved to date. A collaborative study between the British Geological Survey, a U.K. government organization, and the University of Zimbabwe concluded that the tributaries of Lake Chivero, the city’s main drinking water source, are heavily polluted by industrial waste and raw sewage inflows.

In December 2023, the World Health Organization representative to Zimbabwe, Professor JM Dangou, said Zimbabwe has "poor water and sanitation infrastructure."

"Several factors contribute to the resurgence of cholera in Zimbabwe, including poor water and sanitation infrastructure. Inadequate infrastructure hinders access to clean water and proper sanitation, making communities more susceptible to cholera outbreaks," Dangou said.

For decades, the Zimbabwean government has been battling the outbreak of cholera due to lack of access to clean water, reporting thousands of deaths and new outbreaks each year.

In February, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that 528 people died of cholera, saying, "one of the major actors driving cholera transmission" is "the continued low access to safe water."

Last year, the Zimbabwean government declared a state of emergency in the capital over a cholera outbreak that claimed the lives of 150 people across the country.

In July, the local Government Parliamentary Portfolio Committee revealed that the Harare City Council "has been struggling to purify water amid cash crunches."

The committee’s chairperson, Supa Collins Mandiwanzira, said the private sector and individuals owe the Harare council millions of U.S. dollars, and the government has failed to pay a debt of 43 million U.S. dollars.

AllAfrica, a multimedia content creator based in the U.S. and parts of Africa, quoted Mandiwanzira as saying, "Harare City is in desperate need of resources to augment the water works so that they can supply water to the City of Harare."

U.K.’s Guardian newspaper reported in 2020 that "a study conducted by South African company Nanotech Water Solutions concluded that the health of 3 million Harare residents may be endangered by the provision of water containing toxins that can cause liver and central nervous system diseases."