Harare residents submitted a petition to their City Council on Monday regarding the recent cholera outbreak in the city. Over the past few weeks, Harare has reported more than 20 cases of cholera.
As of Friday, the Health and Child Care Ministry reported at least five cases in Harare since the previous Wednesday. The country has had a total of 665 suspected cholera cases and five deaths.
The residents’ petition, directed to Mayor Jacob Mafume, accuses Harare City Council of being primarily responsible for the outbreak. Read the petition:
We are further disturbed by Harare City Council’s failure to efficiently attend to and provide permanent solutions to perennial sewer bursts, access to clean potable water and non-collection of refuse which are major drivers of waterborne diseases including cholera with a potential to contribute to the spiking and surging of reported cases in Glen View, Budiriro, Mbare and Dzivarasekwa.
A case in point is at number 4257 Glen View 3, where sewer bursts contaminated a well which residents rely on for domestic purposes posing a health hazard to the residents of Harare.
Residents of Harare blame the city council for the current cholera outbreak, citing poor sanitary conditions in high-density suburbs, such as Glen View, Mbare, Mabvuku, Budiriro, Mufakose, and Dzivarasekwa.
The petition states that these conditions have led to the contamination of water sources, which residents rely on for safe drinking water. The city council has not done enough to fix the sewer system, and communal toilets and bathrooms have not been cleaned, forcing residents to do it themselves without proper equipment and protective clothing.
The petitioners urged the city council to improve service delivery, refurbish old sewer pipes, provide alternative clean water sources in cholera hotspots, and call an emergency all-stakeholders meeting to address the outbreak.