Harare residents have raised concerns over the shortage of public toilets in the central business district as the majority are closed or inaccessible.
The development comes as cholera is fast spreading not only in Harare but also across the whole country.
The toilets at Copacabana rank, Bata at the corner of Leopold Takawira and Bank Streets, Market Square, Harare Gardens and the Flyover to Mbare downtown were not working on Sunday, 14 January according to a Herald report.
Those at Simon Muzenda Bus Terminus and Africa Unity Square were functional, but using buckets.
The rest of the public toilets have been converted into pay toilets, which many people cannot afford.
Harare City Council spokesperson Stanley Gama told The Herald that some of the toilets were vandalised while others are closed when there is no water. Said Gama:
There are only two toilets that were vandalised in Harare Gardens that are closed whilst we wait for the fittings.
Others are functional, but are at times closed when there is no water in the CBD.
The only time there is no water in the CBD is when there is no power at our distribution centres.
The vandalised toilets will be fixed soon and so we are working with ZESA to find a solution that we have dedicated uninterrupted supply at our water distribution centres.
In 2022, then Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution responsible for Harare Metropolitan Province, Oliver Chidawu, denounced space barons who had seized public toilets at Mbare Bus Terminus and converted them into pay toilets while pocketing the proceeds.
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