Cholera scourge needs serious govt response

Pronouncements by some senior government officials insinuating that the ongoing cholera outbreak could be exploited by the ruling Zanu PF to impose unelected commissioners to run the affairs of Harare has exposed the leadership deficit that is to blame for Zimbabwe’s perpetual struggles with medieval diseases.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s spokesperson George Charamba posted on the social media platform (formerly Twitter) last week that Local Government minister Winston Chitando must take advantage of the infighting in the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC)-run Harare City Council to push for its dissolution and the appointment of a commission to run the city’s affairs.

Charamba suggested that Chitando must capitalise on the worsening cholera outbreak to advance the Zanu PF agenda, which is obviously not in the interests of the capital’s residents.

It goes without saying that the statements are insensitive and show that Zanu PF is obsessed with amassing power to an extent that it can politicise a disease outbreak whose origin is closely associated with its failure to deliver on infrastructure and amenities since it came into power in 1980.

According to the Health and Child Care ministry, as of Friday Zimbabwe had recorded 19 315 suspected cholera cases since the outbreak started in Chegutu in February last year with suspected 344 deaths so far.

Harare had the highest number of suspected cases at 6 989 followed by the largely rural Manicaland Province, which had 5 524 suspected cases while Bulawayo had by far the lowest number of cases at 14.

The disease has spread to all the country’s 10 provinces although Bulawayo and Matabeleland North still have very minimal suspected cholera cases.

Some of the most affected districts such as Mutare and Chiredzi are controlled by Zanu PF led councils, which makes Charamba’s attempts to characterise the outbreak in Harare as a CCC problem dishonest.

Besides, it is the duty of the central government through the Health and Child Care ministry to ensure that citizens are protected from mediaeval diseases such as cholera, dysentery and typhoid that have become endemic in Zimbabwe due to acute water shortages and collapse of sewer reticulation systems in urban areas.

It is also the duty of central government to ensure that citizens have access to adequate clean water and on that score the Zanu PF government has failed dismally for the past 44 years to deliver.

Cities such as Harare and Bulawayo are still relying on dams that were built by the colonial regime for their water despite the fact that their populations have grown exponentially in the last four decades.

It is against that background that government officials, especially those claiming to be advancing Zanu PF interests, must stop trying to capitalise on the cholera calamity and start helping galvanise the country to confront the crisis.

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