From Manica Youth Assembly
As the world commemorated World Toilets Day, Mutare City Council commenced work on repairing ablution facilities in OTS section of Sakubva in response to lobbying that has been going on for a long time.
Council has planned to rehabilitate four toilets for a start and move onto other outstanding facilities, which from our cursory view constiutitute about 90% of all the toilets in this highly populated area.
As the Chinese adage goes, ” a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step”, we feel that it is important to extend our gratitude to City of Mutare for at least starting the ball rolling and hoping that they will maintain the momentum.
Of course, there is an element of surprise that from the records, the cement being used was reportedly procured five years ago. This shows that someone has been sleeping on duty and that there is no effective monitoring of projects going on at City of Mutare which is a hindrance to effective service delivery. At times, poor service delivery experienced in the city is never to do with lack of resources but lack of probity and dedication to duty.
This long awaited repair of ablution facilities will go a long way in improving the sanitary conditions of the area and restore lost dignity of residents who are forced to share a few functional toilets in the area. Residents were being to exposed to serious health risks as a result of the poor sanitary conditions in the area. Women and girls remain vulnerable to rape and molestation due to the sorry state of ablution facilities.
Though repair of the toilets is a welcome developments, Manica Youth Assembly encourage City of Mutare to quickly implement the touted urban renewal project which remain the long term sustainable solution to the prevailing conditions.
