Authorities urged to address water woes at Mashavhi Secondary School in Bikita

A call has been made to responsible authorities to swiftly react and attend to water crises faced by learners and teachers at Mashavhi Secondary School in ward 22 of Bikita.

Bikita Residents and Ratepayers Association (BIRRA) has raised concerns over the matter saying that there is a great potential for an outbreak of waterborne diseases since learners and teachers are fetching water from unclean sources.

BIRRA spokesperson Mark Mutengani revealed that learners and teachers are in a dire situation as they go long distances to fetch water – disturbing the flow of learning activities at the school.

“The correct position about Mashavhi is that there is a serious water crisis. There are 2 drilled boreholes but they are not functioning. In fact, one of the boreholes is completely not functioning while the other is difficult to draw water from. The result is a serious water shortage for both teachers and school children.

“Learners and teachers are the most affected victims. Imagine a school converging without a reliable source of water. There is a probability of losing learning time to fetch water from long distances and also disease outbreaks. Learners source water from very far from school. The nearest borehole is shared with the community. Responsible authorities must act swiftly to make sure there is sanity at the school so as to avoid outbreaks of diseases and normalise school operation,” said Mutengani.

One of the affected officials at the school who spoke to this publication on the condition of anonymity said that there is a dire water situation at the school hence appealing for urgent help in any way.

“Sure we have a water crisis here and we are just desperate for any form of help,” said the source.

Contacted for comment, Bikita District School Inspector (DSI), James Mahofa, denied the issue saying there is no water crisis at the school but did not respond further on where are the teachers and learners getting water.

“There is no water crisis at the school,” said Mahofa.

Bikita Rural District Council is responsible for ensuring the provision of such services. The local authority’s Chief Executive Officer, Peter Chibhi did not respond to questions sent to him by the time we went for publication.

The water crisis at Mashavhi Secondary School is said to be in existence since around 2006 when the school was established. Teachers are said to travel for 5 kilometres to reach the nearest borehole.

Bikita Rural District Council has recently been reported for corruption allegations when $US36 000 was said to be used to drill only 4 boreholes.