WASH News Southern Africa
News feed maintained by information specialists from IRC and partners.
Mozambique: New Xai-Xai Water Supply System Inaugurated
21 Apr 10
Mozambique’s Minister of Public Works, Cadmiel Mutemba, on Monday inaugurated a new water supply system in the city of Xai-Xai, capital of the southern province of Gaza.The city’s old water system was severely damaged in the catastrophic Limpopo floods of February 2000. Emergency repairs were undertaken with support from the European [...]
Mozambique: Dramatic Increase in Maputo Water Supply Under Way
16 Apr 10
The Mozambican government and foreign donors and funding agencies are investing 95 million euros (about 129 million US dollars) to rehabilitate and expand the water supply system for the cities of Maputo and Matola and the neighbouring town of Boane, more than doubling the number of people in the Greater Maputo area with access to [...]
Sub-Saharan Africa: development aid and access to water and sanitation in
14 Apr 10
A study by the African Development Bank (AfDB) concludes that improved sector coordination and capacity building at the local level are some of the key elements to increase efficiency in the water and sanitation sector.The AfDB study [1] examines the trends in access to water and sanitation in sub-Saharan Africa using secondary data, desk research [...]
Zimbabwe: Mbare Flats, Time Bomb
09 Apr 10
Unsightly heaps of rotten uncollected refuse, which are home to swarms of buzzing flies, welcome visitors and residents alike outside Nenyere Flats in Mbare.Sewage drips from worn-out pipes on the third floor each time any one of the many toilets is flushed and lands on the ground next to the refuse [...]
Swaziland: Swazi Village Gets a Self-Sustaining Water Supply
07 Apr 10
It’s a thankless task in the scorching heat of the drought-prone Lubombo Region in the eastern part of Swaziland. Shongwe not only has to dodge vicious dogs at many homesteads each month, he finds many people just won’t pay.“As the chairperson of the water scheme I have to ensure that we raise [...]
Angola: Water for All Programme to benefit over three million people
06 Apr 10
Over three million people in Angola’s rural areas will benefit from the “Water of All” programme, by 2012, as outlined at the inception in 2007.The Water for All programme is a presidential initiative.Speaking at the end of the programme’s fifth balance meeting, Energy and Water minister, Emanuela Vieira Lopes, said on 27 March 2010 in [...]
Madagascar: first national Global Sanitation Fund programme launched
24 Mar 10
The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) launched its first national Global Sanitation Fund programme on 22 March 2010, World Water Day, in Madagascar. Approximately US$ 5 million will be disbursed over the next five years to sub-grantees – community groups, non-governmental organisations, etc. – to implement projects and programmes that raise awareness [...]
Zambia, Kitwe: Kapoto residents refuse to drink treated water because ‘it can make them impotent’
02 Mar 10
Residents of Kapoto shanty compound where cholera has broken out in Kitwe have shocked the district administration after they refused to be drinking treated water allegedly for fear of becoming impotent.ZANIS Kitwe reports that Kitwe District Commissioner Macdonald Mtine confirmed that the community in Kapoto compound was not taking free treated water which the Nkana [...]
Zimbabwe: did the United Nations ignore the 2008 cholera outbreak to please Harare?
26 Feb 10
A U.N. official claims his warnings of a catastrophic cholera outbreak were stifled by a U.N. bureaucracy intent on keeping good relations with Zimbabwe’s dictator, Robert Mugabe.Georges Tadonki, the former head of the Zimbabwe branch of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), was fired at the height of the cholera crisis [...]
Bostwana: Tiffany’s target of protest for Bushmen’s right to water
08 Feb 10
Supporters of tribal people’s rights demonstrated on 3 February 20010 outside Tiffany jewelry stores in London, Madrid, Paris, Berlin and San Francisco to protest the company’s support of Botswana government policies that provide water for wildlife but not for indigenous people on their ancestral lands. Demonstrators want Tiffany to stop all cooperation with the Botswana [...]
