Chronicle Editor
Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
BEITBRIDGE Municipality intends to register all vendors selling bulk water in the town to minimise cases of people getting unsafe water that may lead to the spread of diseases.
The district has so far recorded over 10 cholera cases mostly in new suburbs where there are sewer and water reticulation challenges.
In a public notice this week, council said it had noted that unsafe water is being sold to people.
“In light of the cholera outbreak in Beitbridge especially in the SDP area, (Kwalu 2) all owners or operators of water vending trucks are called upon to come forward and register with council on their operations”.
“This has been necessitated by suspected unsafe water supplies being sold to members of the public,” reads the notice.
The local authority said the registration exercise will help its environmental officers to monitor the quality of water for the safety of residents.
It said the directive for water suppliers to register will take effect from today and those not registered with the council will not be allowed to operate.
Council’s latest move comes at a time when cholera awareness campaigns across the district have been intensified.
Health authorities have also put medical staff on high alert to deal with any cases of cholera.
During a recent stakeholders meeting, the acting district medical officer, Dr Tafadzwa Nyeve said they were treating every diarrhoea related cases as cholera until it is medically proven otherwise.
He said they have alerted all the medical staff at health care facilities in the district to be on high alert.
“We are also doing surveillance through the Environment Health Department and testing water samples regularly.
“In addition, we have since established a Cholera Treatment Camp (CTC) within the hospital to handle all the related cases and we are grateful for the support we are getting from local stakeholders,” said Dr Nyeve.
He said the setting up of the CTC was strategically done to avoid contaminating the hospital and other services offered to members of the public.
The district’s Civil Protection Committee acting chairperson, Mr Jahson Mugodzwa said they had since activated their health subcommittee to raise awareness and trace all cholera cases within the district.
He said the risk communication team is already on the ground in all high risk areas educating people about the disease.
During the last cholera outbreak in 2008, Beitbridge was one of the most affected districts in the country.
A total of 11 735 cholera cases and 484 deaths were recorded in all the country’s 10 provinces that year.
Beitbridge district has an estimated population of 200 000, with 80 000 being urban dwellers.
Additionally, the town hosts 15 000 travellers in transit through the Beitbridge Port of Entry daily and relies on one major Government hospital and 16 clinics.
Online Reporter