By Rudo Majachani and Munyaradzi Dhure
As the government declared a state of emergency on cholera, residents of Glenview and Budiriro have put the blame on authorities for providing contaminated water in a situation that has led to loss of lives in the high-density suburbs.
Speaking to Spiked Online Media, the residents said that the contaminated water that they were drinking caused the outbreak of cholera.
“The colour of the water is usually blue, black or green. It has the smell of raw human waste and other chemicals. We don’t know why the City Council fails to buy water purification chemicals because we pay our rates on time” said Charlotte Moyo, a woman from Glenview 8.
By the 9th of September 2018, media reports showed that at least 16 people had succumbed to cholera. The people are living in fear that the number of cholera cases would increase if authorities do not move with speed to restore proper function of water infrastructure.
The residents said some of the boreholes were no longer safe since sewer through seepage contaminated them.
“Yes we have boreholes but the water is no longer clean as it is mixing with sewage water. The government must come and repair all burst pipes so that we can have safe water to drink that is all we want,” said one of the residents.
The government was urged to intervene in this area and relocate some vendors as they are also the ones who are spreading cholera.
“The government should help us to remove this vendors who are selling near sewage. Glenview area 8 needs special attention as raw sewage flow everywhere. The government should see into this area and help us as a community.”
Meanwhile, the Minister of Health and Child Care Dr. Obadiah Moyo and his deputy Dr. John Mangwiro chaired an inter-ministerial meeting on cholera update yesterday at the ministry head office in Harare, after a state of emergency was declared following the death of at least 2o people.
Quite a number of issues causing the second outbreak of cholera since 2008 in Zimbabwe were picked out of the cookie jar and a provision to purge them was provided as well.
“Cholera and typhoid are caused by dirty. Homes must be clean. Let’s start with the cleanliness ourselves for cleanliness is next to godliness. Night clubs are operating without toilets. Along Robert Mugabe Road, vendors are using plastic bag toilets” said Dr Moyo.
Dr John Mangwiro emphasised much on domestic cleanliness and personal hygiene before looking at the risks Harare town might face.
“Vendors are to be given an ultimatum of 48 hours before we drive them out of the city with the help of the Zimbabwe Republic police. We cannot negotiate on where they will go if we are losing live everyday. The human life matters most than anything. Despite the vendors’ poor sanitation itself, our buildings have aged enough with poor sewer systems. Garbage vehicles are not adequate. All these problems are to blame for the outbreak of cholera”, he said.