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THE decision by the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) to remove illegal vendors from the central business district (CBD) at a time when the city is under threat from an outbreak of cholera which has affected many areas across the country, is a welcome development which must be supported by all stakeholders. 

Bulawayo which used to be the cleanest city in Southern Africa, is now a total chaos because of uncontrolled vending which has seen some roads being literally closed by vendors who have allocated themselves operating spaces. 

It is therefore very difficult for the city to prevent an outbreak of cholera given the obtaining situation on the ground. 

The council’s move to rid the CBD of all illegal vendors should be supported if the city has to prevent the outbreak of this deadly water-borne disease that has already claimed more than 300 lives in the country. 

The local authority has given the vendors and others engaged in illegal activities within the CBD up to Friday to move to designated places. This also includes Kombis and buses picking and dropping passengers at undesignated places as well as those washing cars in the CBD. 

The vendors are selling vegetables, fruits, meat, fish and other such products on the pavements. There are also many backyard restaurants where individuals are cooking and selling food while others are cooking food at home and bringing it to town during lunch hour to sell in the open. 

There is therefore urgent need to address this problem if the city is to remain free from cholera as has been the case over the years. Vendors should therefore move to designated places before Friday as directed by council if the city is to maintain high hygiene standards to prevent cholera outbreak.

 The Ministry of Health and Child Care has also urged people to avoid unnecessary gatherings. Where we cannot avoid gatherings like at funerals, it is important for people to take measures to avoid the spread of this deadly disease. 

We want to commend Government for quickly reacting to contain cholera but measures put in place by Government can only be effective if complemented by communities through maintaining high standards of hygiene. 

Maintaining high standards of hygiene must start at family level. The gatherings, as already alluded to, should be avoided and where they cannot be avoided measures should be taken to maintain high standards of hygiene. 

This week Government rolled out the oral cholera vaccine programme meant to complement measures being taken to contain the cholera outbreak. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it is providing 2,3 million cholera vaccine doses for the programme as it complements Government efforts to contain the outbreak.