BY RUVIMBO MUCHENJE
Harare City Council has shut down its Rowan Martin building after going for two weeks without water.
In a memo seen by NewsDay, acting council human capital director, Matthew Marara, said the unavailability of water posed a health hazard to everyone at the building, hence the decision to shut it down.
“This serves to advise you that Rowan Martin building has been closed with immediate effect. The building has been without running water for two weeks, thereby, exposing our employees and stakeholders to water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea, dysentery, cholera and typhoid,” he said.
“The failure to provide potable, wholesome or clean safe water is in contravention of the Factories and Works Act Chapter 14, 0B, RGN 263. Provision of safe water at workplaces and Public Health Act Chapter 15.09 – water and sanitation,” he said.
Harare has been having water challenges blamed on power cuts at the main water treatment plant, Morton Jaffrey Waterworks.
The Vehicle Inspection Department depot in Belvedere was also this week forced to temporarily close after the water system collapsed due to aging pipes.
