Typhoid outbreak – Zanu PF killing citizens

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) strongly condemns the failure by the government and the Harare City Council in finding a lasting solution to the current typhoid outbreak, which has created a serious humanitarian disaster resulting in an unnecessarily loss of life. Typhoid is a Stone Age disease, unheard of in modern cities but it is shocking that Harare and the government are putting the lives of over a million residents at risk as they fail to provide proper hygiene and sanitation services. In less than a month since the outbreak was recorded, at least nine people have died of typhoid while hundreds have been hospitalised due to the deplorable state of Harare infrastructure, which is characterised by inadequate safe water supplies and sanitation. However, the death toll is reported to be higher as the government tries to suppress the figures and conceal what is happening and its incompetence. The situation in Harare is dire and it has been worsened by the Harare City Council which is only providing water supplies to the residents a few hours during the night. Refuse remains uncollected as the city council management prioritises on self-aggrandisement while most refuse collection trucks remain grounded due to mechanical faults. However, while this drama at the town house takes place, Saviour Kasukuwere, the local government minister, chooses to trivialise and politicise the typhoid epidemic by blaming innocent street vendors who sell items like pirated videos for spreading the contagious disease. Such careless statements when the lives of millions of citizens are at risk are unfortunate and shows how the Zanu PF government does not care about the lives of the people. Kasukuwere’s statement is enough proof that we have a government that prefers to dwell on cheap politics to divert on serious issues that need urgent attention. To curb the scourge, reports indicate that the government is failing to raise $250 000 to remove waste and sanitise the country’s sewer system. However, the same government held a dinner gala at the end of last year where it raised over$3 million in one night for its party conference held in Masvingo last December. Government ministers have in also recent months been implicated in siphoning millions from state coffers for personal benefits yet they fail to raise money to combat the typhoid outbreak. This shows how this government has misplaced priorities as it chooses to wine and dine and choose to loot government funds but fail to provide basic service delivery to the people. It is now clear that Mugabe cannot fix the problems that his officials created and has instead decided to abandon the people and let the citizens die from archaic diseases such as typhoid. As the PDP, our position remains that the socio-economic crisis in Zimbabwe can only be solved by a National Transitional Authority (NTA). Under an NTA government, the priority will be to rebuild the economy, which will result in Zimbabwe having a revenue base and ability to finance critical institutions in the healthcare sector. A revived economy will also ensure the realisation of the people’s right to health and better service delivery, as enshrined in the country’s Constitution. #TogetherAnotherZimbabweIsPossible [if !supportLineBreakNewLine] [endif]