Zimpapers Logo

Tendai Mugabe, Harare Bureau
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa says the central Government will offer maximum support to the City of Harare to ensure high levels of hygiene and cleanliness in the city as part of broader measures of containing the outbreak of waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhoid.

His remarks come in the wake of running battles between the city council and some illegal vendors who are refusing to relocate to designated vending sites in Harare.

Yesterday police had to fire some teargas to disperse some riotous illegal vendors who were playing hide and seek with them in the Central Business District.

Addressing people during his visit to some areas that have been affected by the cholera outbreak in Harare before his departure for the United Nations General Assembly Meeting in New York on Wednesday, President Mnangagwa said highest levels of hygiene should be maintained all the time.

During the visit, President Mnangagwa toured Glenview Poly Clinic and the Beatrice Infectious Diseases Hospital in Mbare.

“We want health standards to be update. We have our Mayor of Harare (Councillor Herbert Gomba) here and we are going to help them to keep the city clean because they have no power as that we have as central Government,” he said.

“The council was not asking for assistance on time but we are going to help them even if they don’t ask for the assistance so that we maintain the city clean. As residents of Harare here in high density suburbs we also want you maintain high standards of hygiene.

We are receiving tremendous support from our cooperating partners but let’s be clean as well. “We should not throw litter everywhere and we are going to assist the council to have enough refuse collection trucks. The priority is we must have clean water throughout. We are liaising with officials from the Ministry of Health and Child Care on the issue of drugs to ensure that they are adequately stocked all the time.”

During his visit, President Mnangagwa assured the nation that Government is working tirelessly to mobilise resources to contain the waterborne diseases and any future eventuality.

President Mnangagwa who spent more than five hours in Glen View also visited Tichagarika Shopping Centre in Glenview 3 where the outbreak is believed to have started.

He was shown a borehole at the back of a pharmacy where drinking water was contaminated with raw sewer.

Said President Mnangagwa: “What has brought us here is the disaster of cholera outbreak especially here in Harare in Glenview and Budiriro.

“The disease has spread to other parts but investigations have shown that all the people diagnosed with cholera in other parts of the country have visited Harare. The outbreak has been caused by old sewer pipes that were bursting without being repaired and drinking water from unprotected sources.

I am saying to all the residents of this area and the country at large, as I said in Parliament yesterday, we are mobilising funds every day to refurbish water pipes from Morton Jaffray Water Works up to the high density suburbs and sewer pipes as well. Most of the pipes are old. We have received overwhelming support from the local corporate sector as and we want to thank them.

When the outbreak was reported, Mr Strive Masiiwa (of Econent Wireless) called from Ethiopia saying he also wanted to assist to contain the disease. He released US$10 million. On top of that, he dispatched some of his colleagues whom I met yesterday and they are buying the material needed to contain the outbreak outside the country.

“We have also received support from several organisations such as Unicef and MSF among others. This morning we received another financial donation at my Office with our Minister of Finance and Economic Development (Professor Mthuli Ncube). There is a committee that we have set to buy medicines not only for today but for the future as well. The doctors said they are happy that figures are going down but that is not a cause for us to relax.”

President Mnangagwa applauded the team of health personnel at the hospital and asked the kind of reward they prefer for their dedicated work.

The health personnel said they wanted a special allowance, which President Mnangagwa promised to fulfil.