A POTENTIALLY explosive situation is simmering between the Harare City Council (HCC) and vendors in Harare after city authorities last week issued a 48-hour ultimatum to food vendors over the typhoid outbreak that has hit the capital.
Council last week issued the ultimatum in a bid to arrest the typhoid, but not many are convinced by that reasoning.
Vendors have, however, disregarded the ultimatum, arguing it is council’s negligence which is to blame for the typhoid outbreak that has left two people dead and 158 suspected cases reported.
Running battles between Municipality police and food vendors are being witnessed in the central business district (CBD).
In an interview, Harare City Council spokesperson Michael Chideme said the local authority had been forced to take drastic measures to contain the spread of typhoid.
He said although the 48-hour ultimatum had since expired, vendors would be removed from the streets without fail.
“The order still stands,” said Chideme.
“We are going to implement it in earnest.”
Chideme said Council came with the decision to ban food vending following preliminary investigations that have shown key drivers of typhoid and any other water-borne diseases to be issues related to personal hygiene, unregulated vending of foodstuffs such as vegetables, meat, fish (cooked and uncooked) and inadequate water supplies.
“There are issues that we can immediately control/regulate to ensure we contain the spread of typhoid,” he said
“One of these is street vending.
“The ban on street vending would be reviewed at a later stage when the spread of the disease is contained.”
Chideme said Council is already impounding pushcarts used in the CBD and destroying impounded fruits, meat, maize, fish and vegetables.
However, Harare vendors and residents said banning of food vendors is not the solution as the spread of typhoid in Harare is a result of many factors.
Uncollected garbage, erratic water supplies, leaking and burst sewage pipes and poor drainage system are among the myriad of challenges Harare residents are facing.
Heavy rains continue to pound heaps of uncollected garbage in the CBD; a rich breeding ground for waterborne diseases.
Some suburbs have gone for two to three months with uncollected garbage.
“In many communities, there is no water for drinking or bathing,” said one Mbare Musika vendor.
“Raw sewage sometimes flows here as we go about our daily business.
“As you can see, maggots are also flourishing here.”
Many residents said lack of household water forced them to wait for water at boreholes sometimes for up to five hours a day.
Yet almost half of the boreholes show contamination.
Harare City Council health director, Dr Prosper Chonzi said almost half of Mbare and Sunningdale boreholes in Harare have contaminated water that is not fit for human consumption and they are consuming this water due to erratic water supplies.
“Thirteen out of 32 boreholes in the Mbare-Sunningdale area are contaminated but residents consume this water because of the erratic water supplies leading to the spread of the typhoid bacteria,” said Dr Chonzi.
“People in Mbare have resorted to using the bush for toilet purposes due to no, or limited supply of water.
“This, however, has resulted in the rain washing away the faeces to the boreholes.
Dr Chonzi said new boreholes must be properly sunk to avoid contamination.
Residents also said the city charged them for Municipal water even when the water flowed only sporadically or was contaminated.
“Most of the residents do not have water after the city turned off their water supply as they were unable to pay their bills,” said John Chimoyo.
“The water shortage and lack of functioning indoor toilets or community latrines sometimes gives us no choice but to defecate outdoors.”
Some residents said children frequently played in raw sewage flowing into their homes and streets from burst pipes.
Until the late 1980s, Zimbabwe had a functioning water system, with access to potable water for 85 percent of the population.
In Harare, remnants of this system are visible in a complex piped water and sewage system to which many residents are connected.
The piped infrastructure has not been maintained, however.
“The result of deterioration of the system combined with a significant increase in the population is that the water now runs only sporadically and is often contaminated,” said one Regina Nomusa from Msasa Park.
Health and Child Care Minister David Parirenyatwa last week said 76 percent of the typhoid cases reported at Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases Hospital were from Mbare.
This week, an inter-ministerial team comprising Minister Parirenyatwa and Minister of Local Government Saviour Kasukuwere toured Mbare to assess the extent of the typhoid outbreak.
Dr Parirenyatwa said he was shocked by the situation in Mbare.
“We will not be able to get rid of either typhoid or cholera and other diarrhoeal diseases, as long as we have conditions like these,” he said.
“Even if I say every hospital in this country must stop treating anything else except typhoid and cholera, we will still not have a solution.
“The solution is making sure that we have got hygienic conditions in this country, especially here in Harare.
“If you look around here, the filth that is here, the worms that are breeding on cabbages that are being sold and sewage that is flowing – it’s just a shocking, deplorable state, which is a proper breeding ground for diseases.”
Minister Kasukuwere, who was also part of the touring team, described the situation at Mbare Musika as ‘deplorable’.
“It’s a disaster,” he said.
“The situation here is deplorable. We have guys, who are hands-off; they do not even know what the steering wheel is.
“They have no interest in the affairs of the city and we have to do something about it.
“It’s shocking.”
As city fathers come up with measures to combat typhoid, it is crucial for every citizen to remember that maintaining a clean environment and being hygienic is vital.
After all, they say cleanliness is next to Godliness.