A woman with a baby strapped on her back fetches water from a well in Epworth a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Harare, Zimbabwe — TSVANGIRAYI MUKWAZHI/AP
A top hotel in Zimbabwe became the butt of jokes on social media Wednesday after it offered its guests buckets of hot bathwater following a power outage in Harare.
In a notice to guests, the chic, century-old Meikles Hotel said it had been operating on a generator since Saturday due to a fault in the Harare's central business district. As a result there was no hot water.
"If you require hot water for bathing please contact our housekeeping department and a bucket will be delivered to you."
The message quickly generated some quirky reactions on social media.
"My bucket list includes spending a weekend in the presidential suite of Meikles Hotel," one person quipped on Twitter.
Another post pictured a half-naked man, body covered in soap lather, rinsing himself with water from a bucket.
But others reprimanded the hotel for failing to find a solution befitting the hotel's top-class rating.
"A five star hotel in a country that experiences rampant power and water outages, which have been the norm for two decades, should have appropriate measures in place by now," one critic wrote on Twitter.
The hotel is the go-to place for business, international organisations and political meetings, as well for tourists in Harare.
Built during colonial rule in 1915, the hotel overlooks the popular Africa Square in the city centre, where the first British settlers raised the Union Jack.
The power fault was later fixed, and the hotel posted a message on Twitter thanking its guests for their "understanding during this challenging period".
Zimbabwe, with a struggling economy and decaying infrastructure, has recently been experiencing power failures in some areas that sometimes last up to eight hours. — AFP
