Government officials at all levels talk of efforts to address the water and sanitation service breakdown, often referencing the cholera crisis as a tragedy that cannot be repeated. But rhetoric needs to be matched by actions, and over the last five years there has been little concrete commitment to address these issues. Although donors agencies and governments have provided millions of dollars to support the country’s water and sanitation sector, the situation of ordinary Zimbabweans living in high-density areas of Harare – those hardest-hit by cholera -- have not changed.