On Friday, the Meteorological Services Department will issue its own forecast based in part on SARCOF’s findings and thus unlikely to be materially different. A water crisis that has simmered in the Greater Gaborone for months, is spiralling out of control, with consumers in the worst affected areas last tasting running water from their taps weeks ago. Everyday, the search for water grows more desperate for parents and children, with some opportunistic ‘entrepreneurs’ building thriving businesses selling water whose quality is a matter for conjecture. Related to this, a health crisis is building up, with a diarrhoea outbreak in Ramotswa and Otse, street caterers recycling their meals and households living day-after-day with severely compromised standards of sanitation and hygiene.
Over the weekend, the 500,000 or so residents of the Greater Gaborone region witnessed one of life’s agonising ironies, when the heavens opened for the first time in months, while taps in houses remained dry. President Ian Khama and his minister responsible for water, Kitso Mokaila have both come out to reassure the nation that something is being done to restore stable, reliable supply for the country’s most economically important region.
