IT HAS been an eventful week in Zimbabwe. Food manufacturer, Nestle resumed operations after receiving guarantees from Industry and Commerce minister, Welshman Ncube that their staff and executives will be safe in Zimbabwe. While the full details of the agreement that led to deal being struck between the first family's Gushungo Dairies and the Swiss company remain a closely-guarded secret, one can only wait to see what this development does to the levels of investor confidence which took a knock late last year.

More importantly, however, the process of drafting a new constitution is well under way. On Monday, the House of Assembly and Senate held an extraordinary parliamentary caucus in which lawmakers were briefed on the constitutional revision exercise. Perhaps the highlight was the revelation that only talking points and no particular draft will be taken to the people. This effectively shut out the (in)famous Kariba Draft that was being aggressively pushed as the idea template and also other drafts from civil society organizations such as the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA).

The formal consultation of Zimbabweans formally starts this coming week across the country. Many Zimbabweans who have been forced to leave the country as a result of the crisis will also have a say in this historic exercise via web-based platforms and other means possible as the committee tasked with redrafting tries to accommodate and reach as many views as possible.

Away from the dominant politics, we have also gone to the people in our own way this week. In this edition, we visit Zimbabwe's third largest city, Mutare - no, not the diamond fields - but more specifically a township called Dangamvura to show how residents there, especially senior citizens' lives have been disrupted because of acute water shortages.

We can report that several households, mostly those in Dangamvura's Ward 6, have not seen a drop of water run down their taps in over three months. In other parts of this township, running water ran dry aeons ago. Yet a certain calmness, and disinterested demeanour that hangs about the people you encounter here.

It is a place where acute water (and other utilities of course) shortage is met on a daily basis with acute nostalgia for days when access to basic commodities was a simple and uncomplicated affair. Today, you are either forced to sleep with one eye open, just in case the responsible authorities decide to pump piped water or you might always have to be on guard, keeping an eye on the fire truck that might just pop up to deliver some water.

Ward 6 Councillor, Nhamo Sithole (MDC) tells us the issue of water in Dangamvura has been politicised and ZANU PF is frustrating his party's efforts to have reliable water supplies restored. Sithole says that several efforts from well wishers and NGOs to repair, for example, burst water pipes have been met with resistance as ZANU PF attempts to prove that sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe are responsible for the shortages and not necessarily rampant corruption and gross incompetency within the city council.

In the Shona language, 'danga' means kraal and 'mvura' means water so put together, the words should refer to a large and accessible repository of water.  Perhaps the irony has not yet struck the calm and arguably disinterested residents of this township in the midst dealing with frustrations such as looking for water, among other things.

Yet, consultations on the redrafting of the Constitution somehow need to capture the deep and sometimes veiled meanings carried by these very basic experiences. Above everything else, the people of Zimbabwe - certainly those we encountered in Mutare - desire a restoration of their dignity via quality service delivery, good governance from their leaders and a genuine respect for their rights.

Simply put, sometimes it begins with something as straightforward as being able to open your tap every morning and seeing water gush through….

Levi

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© Chris Kabwato