BCC urged to prioritise Luveve waterborne disease outbreak
Luveve residents who are affected by the outbreak of typhoid which was caused by water contamination, have bemoaned lack of social responsibility, good governance and transparency by the City Fathers.
By Minenhle Moyo
Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have stepped up to investigate how families in Luveve have been coping in light of the illnesses and deaths.
In a press conference held this morning (Friday 3 July 2020), the Community Action Group for Good Governance said one of their major findings is that the City Fathers have not visited the affected families which has made them question the governance by the Bulawayo City Council.
The Chairperson of the group, Mrs. Nikiwe Ncube Tshabalala said according to their research, most of the families they visited denied seeing health workers from the Council.
“We note that there are rumours of community health workers who have been deployed by the city to assess the situation on the ground so that everyone accesses the medication,” she added. “We welcome such a deployment and trust that it will help the community.
“We, however, note that from our parallel outreach in the affected areas, community health workers have not been to the bereaved families or their neighborhood as yet. We wonder where they are operating and which residents they have interacted with.”
She added that for the local authority to retain its confidence, there is need to frequently update affected communities on the overall scope of the crisis.
“We ask that the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) Health and Engineering department restore resident’s confidence in the local authority by clearly communicating the case of Luveve which they refer to as the gastroenteritis intestinal disease,” she said. “We have not received information that relates to the ongoing crisis in Luveve.”
The group recommended that the City Council prioritises the Luveve waterborne disease outbreak as a matter of urgency.
“COVID-19 has gained so much publicity yet the casualties are much lesser than those of typhoid that is affecting Bulawayo residents,” she said. “We call upon the City Council to take the matter seriously and designate one of its clinics to handle the diseases twenty-four hours a day as this will make it easy for resource mobilization from other stakeholders’.
The Community Action Group for Good Governance has mobilized water bowsers and admitted twenty-nine patients in a private surgery in efforts to help the Luveve residents.
The group called upon all Bulawayo residents to unite and help to curb the spread of the water borne disease.