Chronicle Editor
Yoliswa Dube-Moyo, Matabeleland South Bureau Chief
Villagers in parts of Matabeleland South province are at odds with illegal gold miners whom they accuse of exposing them to health hazards due to open defecation.
There are high cases of open defecation in rural areas particularly in Matabeleland with fears that the practice could derail the country’s attainment of an upper middle income status by 2030.
Open defecation is the disposal of human waste in fields, forests, bushes, open bodies of water or other open spaces.
Matabeleland South provincial water, sanitation and hygiene sub-committee chairperson, Mr Moment Malandu said while programmes were in place to fight open toileting in communal areas, there was no programme in place targeting mining communities, a situation which he said created a vacuum and contributed to the challenge.
“As it is I’m coming from a WASH meeting and that was a burning issue. V
illagers are not happy that illegal miners are messing the bush and it’s no longer navigable.
Now that is problematic particularly now during the rainy season.
Where does all that waste go?
It flows into streams and rivers and people have to drink it.
We are sitting on a health time bomb.
We have tried to engage villagers and ensure that all homes have Blair toilets, but it is difficult to engage the mining community,” said Mr Malandu.
He said the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) committee, through the District Development Fund was working on engaging the mines ministry to explore options on how miners can be reined in.
“We’re working on strategies to engage the Ministry of Mines as they are responsible for miners.
We hope the engagements will yield results that will bring better outcomes for the province,” he said.
Matobo District Medical Officer Dr Matthew Mthunzi said open defecation was a health risk as it exposed people in downstream areas to water borne diseases such as typhoid and cholera.
He said it also carried risks of spreading neglected tropical diseases such as bilharzia.
“As a ministry, many efforts have been made to ensure that every household has a toilet and to eradicate open defecation.
We work with the district development committee and vulnerable households are assisted to construct Blair toilets,” said Dr Mthunzi.
According to the latest Zimvac report, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South provinces have the highest rates of open defecation in the country.Binga has the highest rates in Matabeleland North province while Beitbridge has the highest rate in Matabeleland South.
The highest percentage recorded of bush toileting is 40 percent, as only 59 percent of Binga households are recorded to have toilets.
The report also noted that the proportion of households without hand-washing facilities at their toilets was more than 80 percent in all districts in the country.
The proportion of households accessing water from improved sources is 77 percent, it said.
However, Mangwe (44.7 percent) and Kariba (32.5 percent) have high proportions of households accessing water from surface water sources.
According to the report, access to water at a national level was still a challenge with indications that villagers in most parts of the country still travel long distances to fetch water.
“Nationally, there was an increase in the proportion of households travelling distances more than 1 km to the main water source from 16 percent in 2019 to 20 percent in 2020.
“The highest proportion of households travelling distances more than 1 km was in Matabeleland South (33 percent) and lowest in Manicaland (nine percent),” reads the report. – @YolisswaEnds
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