By Beverly Bizeki

Masvingo City Council has raised concern about the vulnerability of the Victoria Ranch suburb to the cholera pandemic as the area is prone to the effects of rampant illegal dumping of garbage due to lack of a proper refuse collection and disposal system.
This was noted in the Health, Housing, and Environmental Services committee minutes where the committee resolved the City should engage Masvingo Rural District Council and advise them on the need to have refuse collection and disposal systems as the fight against cholera continues.
“On the control of the cholera pandemic, the committee raised concern that the city of Masvingo would be more vulnerable to the disease given rampant illegal dumping of garbage notably in Victoria Ranch suburbs.
“The Chief Health Environmental Health Officer was tasked to write a letter to Masvingo RDC advising on the need to put in place refuse collection and disposal systems in Victoria Ranch to mitigate against the cholera outbreak,” read the minutes.
The Victoria Ranch suburbs were established around 2012 and residents have not had proper service delivery as the project has allegedly been abandoned by land barons involved in the project.
Residents in the suburbs are still exposed to the ordeal of a lack of proper drainage systems, sewer reticulation, among other things.
One Victoria Ranch resident Dr Munyaradzi Chidarikire said the situation was getting out of hand as the population increased every day and urged the local authorities to treat the matter with urgency.
“The issue of refuse collection in Victoria Ranch has reached a critical point due to the increased human population, leading to severe consequences. Residents are resorting to burning refuse resulting in significant air pollution. The burning which usually occurs at night further exacerbates the problem causing breathing difficulties for some individuals.
“Some residents are also disposing of used diapers in open spaces, posing a serious health risk to the community including diseases such as cholera. In light of these pressing concerns, I urge the council to take immediate action by designating a refuse disposal facility located far away from the residential area.
“Further, council should prioritise the deployment of refuse trucks in these suburbs to ensure timely collection of refuse from residents. This step is essential in maintaining cleanliness and preventing further health hazards within the community. By addressing these challenges promptly, council can alleviate the adverse effects caused by lack of refuse collection,” said Dr Chidarikire.
Heaps of dumped rubbish, mostly used diapers have become an eyesore in Victoria Ranch, and the residents are also exposed to another hazard posed by the old dumpsite which is closer to houses.

Beatific Gumbwanda

CHIREDZI-Efforts by Chiredzi Town Council to upgrade its water situation could be affected by the current power cuts that have recently resumed after a few months of relief.
The local authority which has been struggling to provide clean and safe water to its growing population, was recently thrown into further distress by the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) following incessant load shedding which has immensely affected pumping at its Hippo Valley Waterworks.
The load shedding came at a time when the local authority was trying to put in place measures to boost water pressure to reach higher ground and upgrading of a water system.
In an interview with TellZim News, Chiredzi Town Secretary, Engineer Wesley Kauma, said the current water works were established four decades ago for less than 10 000 people with an initial capacity of 5 megaliters per day but it later increased to 10-mega liters per day.
“Chiredzi Waterworks was established in 1968 for 4000 residents with an initial capacity of five megaliters per day and later increased to 10 Mega liters per day.
“The town has since grown and now requires 22 Mega liters per day including 2 days water retention and fire storage. Water supply has fallen short with Makondo suburb requiring 5 Mega Liters per day and the suburbs have increased to include Melbourne Park, Westwood, Lowlands, and others.
“In 2005 council applied for a PSIP loan to upgrade the water works to 15 mega liters per day but not much was achieved due to limited disbursement until 2012 when UNICEF expanded the water works pump house and desludging of Tshovani Ponds and what is now outstanding is construction of four clarifiers and 4 filtration tanks and corresponding 7.6 m2 reservoirs.
“Also required are ring mains and district measuring area to quantify how much water is being supplied to each ward for billing purposes,” said Eng Kauma.
Engineer Kauma also said the council is constructing a trunk line at Chitsanga Hills to boost water pressure to reach higher grounds like the Magwaza Location.
“We have a 1-kilometer trunk line bypass under construction at Chitsanga Hill to boost pumping pressure so that it reaches higher grounds like Magwaza,” he said.

Decide Nhendo

Masvingo’s Victoria Primary School was crowned provincial quiz champions at the provincial competitions conducted by the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ) on March 8 in Zaka.
The director of NMMZ Mr Lovemore Mandima said Masvingo residents have to support Victoria Primary so that the national trophy will return to the province again.
“I urge Masvingo schools and teachers to support Victoria Junior to retain the national championship in the province once again,” said Mandima.
He said the heritage quiz competitions were important as they promote heritage among schools encouraging students to be successful in the programme.
“The quiz competitions started in 1993 and ever since they have gained momentum in primary schools’ heritage education system shaping students’ desire and knowledge on the subject,” said Mandima.
Victoria Junior Primary School which was representing Masvingo District came first whilst Hwiru from Gutu came second and Mandakaza from Bikita came third in a tightly contested competition.
Victoria Junior quiz participants walked away with US$ 150 and a shield from National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe from the US$ 600 that was set aside for prices for the winners.
Hwiru Primary School which came second got a floating trophy and a cash prize of US$ 120.
The Heritage Quiz competition for primary schools started at cluster level where 173 schools around the province were participating.
It was on February 23 when cluster winners met at the District level to come up with the seven schools that represented the seven districts of Masvingo in Zaka on March 8 where Victoria Junior Primary was crowned provincial champions.
At national level, Victoria Junior Primary School will battle it out with nine other schools from the country’s 10 Provinces at the national finals to be held in Gweru on May 18.
Last year Hellen McGhie scooped first prize at the national finals which were held in Bulawayo.
Heritage Bookshop, AFC and Gain Supermarket Jerera branch, and N. Richards Group of Companies donated the cash prize for the success of the competitions.

…records an average of 5 dog bites per month

Staff Reporter

Masvingo City Council has embarked on mandatory dog vaccination exercises in conjunction with the veterinary service department mainly in the Rujeko suburb.
The command vaccination program was necessitated by a report of a rabid pitbull that attacked five people in the area in February.
This was confirmed by Masvingo City Acting director of housing and environmental services Sithabile Matava.
She said after a report, the dog was taken for samples, and it was discovered that it had rabies. Since then, they have been vaccinating all dogs in the area and catching all those found roaming around since they could not establish if the rabid dog had not infected other dogs before its death at the hands of angry residents.
“On 19 February we received a report of a pit bull that had attacked five people in Rujeko Surbub. We only got the report after a day of the incident and people had already killed the dog. We dispatched a team to Rujeko and considering how vicious it was, we took samples from the dead dog and discovered that it had rabies.
“So currently we have centralized our vaccination program to Rujeko since that is where the rabid dog was. We had a mass vaccination on March 06 and so far we have vaccinated 169 dogs and we are also rounding up those that are roaming around the residential area,” said Matava.
She said they were targeting to vaccinate dogs in the whole city at a date to be advised in April during school holidays saying from experience they had learned that if they do it during school days, the adults will be at work and some simply do not care like how youngsters do.
“We are targeting to vaccinate all dogs in the whole city in April during school holidays, we have discovered that we have a higher turnout during holidays.
“We are also urging dog owners to make sure that they vaccinate and license their dogs and we have a new bylaw which regulates dog ownership and the number of dogs each person is allowed to have. We also urge members of the public to report roaming dogs to Masvingo City Health Department,” she said.
The local authority recently resolved to conduct a dog census to ascertain the number of dogs in the city to be able to put dog bite control measures in place.

By Brighton Chiseva

While the country is grappling with the Cholera crisis, with Masvingo being reported to have several hotspots, a disaster is looming at Chifedza Clinic in Ward 15 of Chivi District as the health facility has for months been running without water.
The clinic, which is about 20 kilometers from Chibi Growth Point and has an estimated catchment of 4500 people, has been operating without water for some time now after the pump that was used to draw water from a nearby borehole broke down and is yet to be repaired.
Sources said Chifedza Clinic had been operating without water supplies since July 2023, at the peak of harmonized election campaigns, a situation that has forced patients and waiting mothers to bring water from their communities in the adverse hot weather conditions.
“Water supplies have become so dire in the times of the Cholera outbreak in the District and the clinic’s catchment area. A lot of water is needed to disinfect floors, concurrent disinfection of linen and washing of hands as clients enter and exit premises but there is none.
“There was panic when a cholera case was reported at the clinic; after the report DDF and Chivi RDC staff members visited the clinic to assess the water situation but no tangible action has been taken so far,” said one villager
Another source said neighboring community members were trying their best by supplying water but it was not enough to meet the need and said the councilor and MP were letting people down.
The challenge since last year was necessitated by substandard pipes and recently the pump that was left operating in the open due to poor workmanship broke down.
Chibi Rural District Council (RDC) Chief Executive Officer Tariro Matavire confirmed the crisis and said they were running around as a local authority and they hoped the problem would be addressed within two weeks.
“The pump that was being used at Chifedza Clinic broke down and currently the clinic is getting water from a nearby secondary school borehole.
“We have people on the ground right now and we are in the process of installing a new pump and I am confident that after two weeks the problem will have been resolved,” said Matavire.
Local Councillor Albert Meke said the problem was persisting and confirmed that council employees were on the ground assessing the situation and said the challenge was that the pump that was there had more power compared to the pipes hence there were continuous pipe bursts.
“There is a crisis at Chifedza and from what I heard from the council, continuous pipe bursts were being caused by the fact that the pump that was there was more powerful than the pipes because the pipes were laid some time ago but the pump was later changed.
“I don’t stay close to the clinic though to understand how the people are coping but the council is on it now so I am sure the problem will be addressed soon,” Meke said.
The waiting shade at the clinic was also blown off by winds in November 2022, and patients have to sit under tree shades whilst waiting for service.