OPPOSITION parties have expressed anger at the government’s refusal to declare Bulawayo a water shortage area to allow council to mobilise resources to bring lasting solutions to the city’s water woes.

The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) in January wrote to the Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Settlement ministry requesting that it declares the city a water shortage area.

In response to a plea to declare the Bulawayo water situation a national disaster, President Emmerson Mnangagwa sought a second opinion from engineering consultants on the magnitude of the water crisis.

Government consultant Paul Kruger said the city had no water crisis, before laying blame on lack of technical capacity on the part of council to quench the thirst of residents.

In April, the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) appealed to President Emmerson Mnangagwa over the water crisis, citing section 77(a) of the Constitution that implores the State to take reasonable legislative and other measures within the limits of resources available to it to achieve the progressive realisation of the right to potable water.