Buckets and jerrycans in hand or in wheelbarrows, dozens of Zimbabweans stand close to each other in a long queue, patiently waiting at a borehole in Harare’s middle-class Mabelreign suburb to collect water.<\/p>\n
While this is a daily sight, this week things are different.<\/p>\n
The water-short southern African country is starting to enforce a 21-day lockdown to try contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus.<\/p>\n
People are supposed to be observing social distancing, stay indoors and above all, wash their hands regularly. But these instructions will not be easy to follow.<\/p>\n
“Of course I have heard about social distancing,” said 16-year-old Maxel Chikova.<\/p>\n
“But people were already queued up like this when I joined the line, so I just hope nobody has the virus.”<\/p>\n
In the same queue is another teen, Winnet Mgaramombe, who is not in school because of the virus restrictions.<\/p>\n
“We have heard about the coronavirus but we need water for domestic use, so corona or no corona we shall come to get water,” she said, carrying a yellow bucket.<\/p>\n
The scene is played out all over greater Harare.<\/p>\n
City authorities have struggled to constantly supply water to the capital city of 4.5 million residents for many years.<\/p>\n
Across town in Mbare, the largest high density township, the queue is even longer.<\/p>\n
– Unsafe drinking water –<\/p>\n
There are many people milling around.<\/p>\n
Housewife Epiphania Moyo had been in the queue for a good part of the morning and is well aware of the need for better hygiene to halt the spread of the virus.<\/p>\n
“Of course, we have heard about coronavirus, and we try as much as we can to wash our hands, but sometimes we would rather put it to other domestic uses.”<\/p>\n
Hand sanitisers are a luxury she cannot afford.<\/p>\n
“That’s for the rich, not for us who live in the ghetto.”<\/p>\n
Coronavirus has brought Harare’s perennial water woes under the spotlight.<\/p>\n
Some parts of the city have gone for almost two decades without running water.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Buckets and jerrycans in hand or in wheelbarrows, dozens of Zimbabweans stand close to each other in a long queue, patiently waiting at a borehole in Harare’s middle-class Mabelreign suburb to collect water. While this is a daily sight, this week things are different. The water-short southern African country is starting to enforce a 21-day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":17584,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[1279,314],"class_list":{"0":"post-21424","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-community","9":"tag-coronavirus-in-zimbabwe","10":"tag-water-shortage"},"yoast_head":"\n