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The government has urged vendors to stop operating in the Central Business Districts (CBDs) in response to the recent cholera outbreak.
Information minister Jenfan Muswere told journalists during a post-Cabinet briefing that the move is part of a comprehensive effort to contain the spread of the waterborne disease.
“Government directs vendors be removed from the streets, gardens using raw sewer be destroyed, clean water be availed, mobile toilets be availed in the city centre, Civil Protection Act be activated to fight cholera,” Muswere said.
“Mitigatory measures being taken are the removal of food vendors selling or cooking food on the streets of Harare and Chitungwiza; bulk safe water trucking to western suburbs of Harare to enable access to safe drinking water; health education campaigns; removal of all dumpsites in Harare and Chitungwiza and reopening of public toilets.”
The country has recorded over 7,000 cholera cases and at least 142 deaths.
During this week’s Cabinet briefing, it was highlighted that the Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Douglas Mombeshora accompanied by the Mayor of Harare Ian Makoni, the Director of City Health, and an Engineer in the Department of Refuse collection went to assess the situation in Kuwadzana.
It was observed that residents are not accessing portable water as the council was failing to pump adequate water from the Morton Jeffrey waterworks.
The cabinet advised that clean water should be availed to residents to reduce cholera incidence and the Civil Protection Act to curb the disease.
However, this Friday Mayor Makoni declared a state of emergency to cholera.
“The cholera outbreak has been caused by the non-availability of adequate water supplies in the city. Many people have turned to boreholes and wells which are contaminated. What we are seeing, we last saw in 2008 when the cholera outbreak closed the city and the country. The cholera outbreak has come with vengeance.”
“We are not able to supply municipal water to most of the areas in the city. We now need water trucking, but we have few water bowsers which are broken,” he said.
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