Residents warned against buying fish on the streets

Midlands Correspondent
Gweru residents have been warned against buying fish on the streets, amid reports that some vendors were collecting dead fish from Ngamo Dam that was recently contaminated.

Gweru City Council director for health Mr Sam Sekenhamo said residents should desist from buying fish sold on the streets because they are yet to establish the cause of the water contamination at the dam where the bulk of the fish is coming from.

“I can confirm that indeed there has been contamination of water at Anchor yeast/Ngamo Dam that killed fish,” he said.

“There is a lot of dead fish at the dam’s catchment area and we have teamed up with responsible authorities to contain the situation.

“As the city, we would like to urge our residents to stop buying food from the street, especially fish.”

Mr Sekenhamo said the city was not drawing potable water from the dam.

“Yes, Ngamo Dam is one of our supply dams, but we are not currently drawing water from there due to infrastructure challenges,” he said.

“All drinking water comes from Whitewaters and Gwenhoro dams.”

Residents who spoke to The Herald said the dead fish was being sold in Mkoba and Senga high-density suburbs at cheap prices over the weekend.

Environmental Management Agency (AMA) provincial manager Mr Benson Bhasera said they had taken water samples at various points in the dam and sent them to the national laboratory as they seek to establish the source of contamination.

“We went to the dam and took samples at four points so that we examine the extent of water contamination,” he said.

“The results will be ready in the next two days and we will update you.

“So far we have ruled out tributaries that feed water into the dam, Ngamo and Mutorahuku rivers because they are both dry.”

Meanwhile, the department of Parks and Wildlife and the Veterinary Service department have taken fish samples to establish the extent and nature of poisoning.