Calls grow for government to declare cholera a national disaster

By Alex Bell
25 November 2008

International aid organisation Oxfam has added it’s voice to the growing call for Zimbabwe’s government to declare the devastating cholera outbreak a national disaster.

Medical charities other aid groups and the MDC have all urged the government to take this crucial step to spur more action to halt the spreading threat of the water borne disease. At least 300 people are confirmed to have died in hospitals across the country, but it’s believed the figure is up to 400 percent higher in the communities, where people have been unable to access medical care. The outbreak of the disease and the critical lack of medical care across the country have seen scores of Zimbabweans crossing the border into South Africa, searching for medicine and treatment – fuelling concerns the disease will keep spreading in the neighbouring country.

South African health officials said on Monday that there are more than 1000 cholera patients at Zimbabwe’s Beitbridge hospital, while on the other side of the border in Musina, a further 168 Zimbabwean cholera patients have received treatment. Four people, including a South Africa truck driver have died from the disease in South Africa, this as the numbers keep rising in Zimbabwe. Despite a report published last week by the state run Herald newspaper that the situation was under control, the Combined Harare Resident’s Association (CHRA) said on Tuesday that there are more reports of the disease spreading.

CHRA said residents in the suburb of Glen Norah have reported a ‘disquieting spread of cholera in the area this week’, with more than 4 people dying in Glen Norah B, as of last week. Glen Norah’s neighbouring community, Budiriro, has been one of the hardest hit by cholera, with an estimated 10 people dying each day from cholera. CHRA’s Simbarashe Moyo explained on Tuesday that “nothing has been done to combat this disease and people are still dying.” He argued that the death toll is far higher than is being reported, saying “the figure is much closer to a thousand people that have died.”

More than 100 residents of Budiriro suburb, as well as from the Chitungwiza township where the outbreak is believed to have originated, are now filing a law suit and claiming damages of up to Z$2 hexillion (twenty one zeroes) against the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) over the cholera epidemic which has claimed the lives of their relatives.

The lawsuit will be filed in the High Court in Harare this week by law firm
Mucheche and Matsikidze Legal Practioners, acting on behalf of the
residents. The lawsuit seeks to have ZINWA relieved of its responsibilities for having failed to provide safe and clean water in the urban centres of Zimbabwe, leading to the outbreak of the deadly disease.

Meanwhile Zimbabwe’s second largest city said on Monday it had less than a month’s supply of water treatment chemicals, as cholera continues to ravage the crisis-ridden country. Bulawayo Mayor Thabiso Moyo said in a press report that an acute shortage of foreign currency has left the city of more than one million people unable to secure enough water treatment chemicals. It’s believed two people have died from the disease in Bulawayo, which hit the city last week.