Kadoma residents drinking untreated water

By Tichaona Sibanda

12 October 2006

The municipality of Kadoma has gone for months without treating its drinking water, posing a great health hazard to the thousands of residents in the town, the MDC mayoral candidate claimed on Thursday.

Jonas Ndenda, a former housing officer with the municipality, said the incumbent Zanu (PF) Mayor Fani Phiri has failed dismally to run the town’s operations.

‘The town is run down, the roads resemble those in rural areas and residents are drinking water that is not being treated,’ said Ndenda.

He said residents deserve much better service than what they are getting from a failed and incompetent administration under Phiri. Ndenda and Phiri are the two candidates contesting the mayoral elections pencilled in for the 28 th October.

There is great belief in the town that the MDC will win the seat, considering Kadoma central is controlled by the MDC. Its legislator Editor Matamisa is from the Morgan Tsvangirai camp. With the right strategy Ndenda is convinced all those who voted for Matamisa will also vote for him in two weeks time.

‘We have the numbers, all we need to do is to make sure we convince them to turn out in their thousands to cast their ballot. This is to counter any rigging that Zanu (PF) uses, especially bussing in people from the rural areas.

On Wednesday we reported there were allegations that hundreds of people from outlining areas of Kadoma were being registered to take part in the forthcoming mayoral elections. Only those who live within the town’s boundaries are eligible to vote but Zanu (PF) activists under Kadoma’s rural district council boundaries are being registered.

A source told us other people within the boundaries are being invited to register their names with the local Zanu (PF) offices so they could be allocated farming plots in areas surrounding the town.