Water supply to Maputo schools cut

Maputo, 15 Jul (AIM) – The Maputo regional water company has cut off the water supply to more than 20 primary and secondary schools in the city because of their failure to pay their water bills.

Some schools have opted to close their bathrooms, making it impossible for pupils to use the toilets. One pupil told the independent television station STV, “we’ve gone for months without knowing what it is to drink water at school”.

In some schools the managers are bringing water from their own homes, and in others they are demanding that parents and guardians give their children water to take to school. So early in the morning, queues of children were filmed walking to schools, and each carrying five litre containers of water.

Children found themselves obliged to urinate behind the closed bathrooms, or to pay money to the owners of bathrooms near the school. The sums charged are between five and 20 meticais (between eight and 30 US cents).

In some cases, such as the Armando Guebuza Secondary School, there are bathrooms in residences inside the school grounds, and these have provided relief for pupils and teachers.

One angry parent, Albertina Amadeu, told STV “The school has no water. The water’s been disconnected. So the school manager held a meeting with parents to explain that each pupil should bring five lite of water a day to help in the bathrooms. It’s a critical situation, but what can we do?”

The overall debt of the schools to the water company is over 700,000 meticais (about 11.000 US dollars). The company confirmed this and told STV the water supply had been cut because the city’s education directorate was in violation of its contract.

The Education Directorate is refusing to talk about the scandal, and it has ordered school officials not to give interviews to the media.

(AIM)

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