BY SILAS NKALA BULAWAYO’S deputy mayor Mlandu Ncube is in trouble after he posted on social media that the city’s residents were experiencing water shortages because of wrong valves that were purchased for the Ncema and Fernhill water pump stations. Council early this year issued a statement said it had postponed the commissioning of the flowserve pumps after the contractor failed to install four non-returnable valves. In his tweet, Ncube wrote: “After successfully installing the non-returnable valves today (Saturday), the city started pumping raw water to its Bafour Dam. This move will improve our water delivery to the residents.” He then went on to blame the suffering of the residents to the wrong non-returnable valves purchased, which did not go down well with the provincial executive. This prompted the MDC Alliance provincial executive to call him to order. MDC Alliance provincial spokesperson Swithern Chirowodza said it was better for the deputy mayor and the council to shut up, than to claim that the valves were the reason for the residents’ suffering. “We are not happy with Mlandu’s tweet. He talks about the return valves installation as if they were the reason why residents were suffering with no water,” Chirowodza said. “He also claims that the water supply has been improved after the council introduced 144 hours water shedding. There is no improvement, residents have been suffering and 144 hours still means that they are struggling to get water, so he must not be excited about this. It’s better that he must shut up.” Most suburbs in the city were going for up to two weeks, or a month without water coming out of their taps. Follow Silas on Twitter @silasnkala