16 June 2020
Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association (BVTA) learns with sadness the passing on of lives claimed by ingesting contaminated water with revelations that it is a typhoid outbreak, which resulted in drinking water from the tap, and leaving some people battling for their lives in hospitals in Bulawayo.
Reports from residents indicate that possible water contamination in Bulawayo goes beyond Luveve suburb. Residents in several high and low density suburbs have reported drawing muddy and smelling water from their taps. We also have BVTA members who were affected by this outbreak.
“Every person has the right to clean, safe and potable water” as stated under Section 77 Subsection (a) in the Constitution of Zimbabwe.
We urge the authorities to act with urgency before many lives are lost, in finding the cause for the water contamination.
We also urge people to boil water before drinking and ensure that the containers they use to store water are clean and rinsed regularly.
BVTA hopes that government will take pleas by stakeholders very serious to declare this as a national water disaster, so that it activates its emergency response mechanisms and to revisit the seemingly errors of omission and commission by their consultant that advised Bulawayo City Council when this crisis was looming.
Issued by BVTA Information and Publicity Unit
Contact details: Fourth floor, Suite 406, Fidelity Life Building Fife street and 11th Avenue Email:bulawayovendors@gmail.com Website: www.bvtatrust.org Phone: +263 713 635 908 Twitter: @bvtatrust Facebook: Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association/ Bulawayo Vendors Trust