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Water and sanitation play an important role in the pursuit of Africa’s development aspirations given their direct bearing on all basic social and economic indicators, Hon Vangelis Haritatos, the Deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development has said.
He made the remarks during the official opening of the Southern Africa Sub-regional Meeting on the Post-2025 Africa Water Vision and Policy in Harare today, 25 March 2025.
The meeting was attended by members of the African Union Commission; the Executive Secretary of the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW), Dr. Rashid Mbaziira; AMCOW Vice TAC Chair Southern Africa; Southern Africa Member States’ Representatives; representative of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC); Technical Advisory Committee and Technical Experts Committee Representatives; Representative of the African Development Bank; Representative of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa;
stakeholders from Zimbabwe’s water and sanitation sector, private sector, river basin organisations, research, and learning institutions.
“As we embark on this journey, Zimbabwe is ready to play its role, together with Member States and Stakeholders in the Region, to help shape the Agenda for water and sanitation on the Continent. Distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, Africa’s aspirations for economic growth; social transformation; regional integration; trade; peace, and security are all dependent on assuring sustainable water availability for all purposes.
“Water and sanitation play an important role in the pursuit of Africa’s development aspirations given their direct bearing on all basic social and economic indicators. Against this background, Zimbabwe, under our National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1), set the goal of having at least 90% of our population enjoy the right to clean, safe, potable, and adequate water by 2025,” Hon Haritatos said.
By improving water availability and safely managing sanitation, stakeholders are also unlocking our potential in agriculture, mining, energy, tourism, manufacturing, and many other sectors dependent on this sector.
In the past five years, Zimbabwe embarked on a serious dam construction drive. This has seen the country commencing new dam projects and bringing back to life some of the projects that had stalled. It is working on a record 12 high-impact dams across the country.
These dam projects will go a long way in addressing water challenges in some of the major urban centres and also spur opportunities for irrigation around Zimbabwe. The dams are part of the country’s programme to build resilience against the vagaries of climate change which all countries are grappling with.
In line with the thrust of leaving no one and no place behind, the Government has also embarked on a strong drive to boost water security for rural communities. This is done under the Presidential Rural Development 8.0 Programme which is envisaged to benefit more than 1.8 million rural households. Under this, the Government has committed to drill 35,000 boreholes, one in each village of Zimbabwe, where it will install 35,000 solar pumps, 140,000 solar panels, 140,000 water tanks, 70,000 fish ponds, and 35,000Ha of nutrition gardens, collectively of which are call Village Business Units (VBUs). It will do the same for the 9,600 rural schools that exist in Zimbabwe which collectively shall be called School Business Units.
By introducing a mindset shift in our rural communities, the government will create businesses for the rural population where aggregation and rural industrialisation will mean rural migration, and less pressure on urban areas.
“In short, we believe water will enable rural industrialisation which will in turn spur rural development and contribute towards economic development. Zimbabwe believes that every sector in any economy is influenced by water. Economic activity in the primary and services sectors creates jobs, labour productivity, prosperity, well-being, peace, and security.
“Therefore, it follows that the effectiveness of both water management and water, sanitation, and hygiene services provision should benefit economic growth and social transformation. In short, I am saying that success in assuring water security is a key influencing factor in the performance of the other sectors of the economy in Africa,” Hon Haritatos added.
