Bad sanitation holds back development in Africa

WaterAid has launched its new report, Giving sanitation the green light, at AfricaSan, Africa’s conference on sanitation and hygiene. The conference takes place in Durban, South Africa, from 18-20 February, and WaterAid’s Policy Officer for Sanitation, Oliver Cumming, will be posting a daily blog here.

The paper charts what progress has been made and what is still needed in 12 African countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals for sanitation. Of the 12 countries only Senegal and South Africa show good progress, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mali and Ghana show some progress, while Madagascar, Zambia, Tanzania, Nigeria and Malawi show insufficient progress.

Read more: WaterAid, 18 Feb 2008

Zimbabwe, Bulawayo: Water in Short Supply Despite Rain

Bulawayo is facing its worst water crisis in years, and the city authorities say they are not about to lift the stringent system of water rationing, even though heavy rains are now filling up the reservoirs which supply the city.

The shortage of potable water in Bulawayo is closely connected with a standoff between the city authorities [which are controlled the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, MDC] and the Zimbabwe National Water Authority, ZINWA.

Bulawayo council clinics are now asking expectant mothers to bring their own water with them when they come in to give birth. Pregnant women are not released from clinics until they have settled their bills and the longer they stay without running water, the more they expose themselves to infection, which can lead to an even longer stay in hospital.

Read more: IWPR, 12 Feb 2008

Namibia: Gov’t Considering Water Subsidies For Poor

WINDHOEK, Feb 5 (IPS) – The Namibian government, frequently accused of making water unaffordable to the poor, is finally taking steps to address this countrywide problem. It is considering the viability of including water subsidies for poorer families in a new development plan set to begin in April 2008.

Poor residents often cannot pay for water, either in form cards for pre-paid water meters or the monthly fee of just under four dollars to the national water utility, NamWater, for the right to fetch water during a four-hour window each day.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Water, and Forestry has recommended in its third national five-year development plan (NDP3) that 4.3 million dollars be allocated to help people living in informal and rural areas pay NamWater.

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Uganda: The Agony of Being Female

Ms Carol Nampiina’s posting to her new workplace coincided with her monthly menstrual flow that fell in July, and it took her less than two days in her new office to try and confide in someone about her discomfort.

Nampiina was uncomfortable at office for unlike her previous residence where she easily disposed off her sanitary pads, her new office lacked a sanitary bin. During the times she had her flow, she had to wrap her used pad, keep it in her bag until late in the evening when she went back home to dispose it.

Indications are that the lack of proper places for disposal of used sanitary pads is one of the overlooked practices prevailing in modern offices in Uganda, which is aggravated by the fact that many offices do not have “women’s only” toilets.

Read more: David Mugabe, East African Business Week (Kampala) / allAfrica.com, 28 Jan 2008

Zimbabwe: Minister Blames Water Crisis On Power Cuts

Some residents in Harare have gone without water for more than three weeks while some areas of Bulawayo have experienced water cuts lasting more than five months.

Amid all this chaos, blame shifting has been the order of the day. Power cuts, unreliable water reticulation equipment and lack of chemicals have been blamed. The quality of tap water is also suspect. There has been in an increase in diarrhoea cases, which has been attributed to failure by the local city authority to provide clean water and collect refuse in residential areas. UNICEF was providing water tanks and water purification tablets in Harare suburbs affected by outbreaks of diarrhoea and also to Zimbabwe’s second city, Bulawayo, in the southeast of the country. The Minister for Water Resources and Infrastructural Development was interviewed on the water crisis in the country.

Read more: Paul NyakazeyaMunacho Mutezo, Zimbabwe Independent (Harare), 25 Jan 2008

The water crisis is also forcing manufacturing companies in Harare to close down. Furthermore, Jane Mutasa, president of the Indigenous Business Women’s Organisation (IBWO), claims that companies are also sending workers home because there is no water to flush the toilets. There were reports that some workers in industrial areas had resorted to the bush to relieve themselves because company toilets were sealed off because of lack of water. Other companies were said to be hiring mobile toilets.

 

Read more: Dumisani Ndlela, Financial Gazette / allAfrica.com, 31 Jan 2008

Namibia: Communal Taps Turned On, But Water Still Not Free

11 January 2008 (Absalom Shigwedha Outapi, The Namibian)

Last year’s Government order to NamWater that the water utility should open all rural water points that had been closed due to non-payment was based on the fact that water is the most important commodity in a person’s life, President Hifikepunye Pohamba said. However, Pohamba said this did not mean communities would get water for free.

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