Bulawayo’s long-running water shortages have persisted despite a relatively strong 2025–26 rainy season, with city officials warning that minimal inflows into supply dams threaten water security for the country’s second-largest city. Council authorities say the situation has been worsened by extensive mining activities in dam catchment areas in Matabeleland South, where most of Bulawayo’s water sources are located. On Friday, councillors, engineers, media and other stakeholders joined a Bulawayo City Council (BCC) inspection tour of three of the city’s six supply dams, Upper Ncema, Inyankuni and Mzingwane.
The visit revealed widespread mining operations close to the reservoirs, including active sites using large water bowsers and storage tanks. Residents across Bulawayo continue to endure prolonged water shedding, with some suburbs going up to four days without supply. Bulawayo Mayor David Coltart has repeatedly raised concerns about mining in catchment areas, warning that it is disrupting water inflows into the dams and threatening the city’s long-term water supply.
Council figures show that as of 21 January 2026, Bulawayo’s operational dams were only 37.31% full, a level officials say is inconsistent with the amount of rainfall received this season. Speaking on the sidelines of the tour, BCC Director of Engineering Services Sikhumbuzo Ncube described the situation as “dire”. “We last experienced this level of rainfall around 2017 or 2018.
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“Now, despite the good rains, the dam levels are not looking good at all.” Eng Ncube said Upper Ncema Dam, one of the city’s most critical reserves, was only 40% full. “This is the dam we rely on most when the others dry up. Normally, we begin drawing from it around August or September, but at this rate we are not sure it will have sufficient capacity,” he said.
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