A mentally challenged homeless man trashes a rubbish bin in Masvingo as he scavenges for whatever he can find.
.…as number of mentally
challenged people on streets rise
Moses
Ziyambi
The Minister of State for
Masvingo Provincial Affairs, Ezra Chadzamira has said the continued spike in the
number of people with mental illnesses living on the streets showed that there
were officials who slept on their jobs.
Responding to questions
during his maiden press conference as minister at his Benjamin Burombo offices
recently, Chadzamira said the issue of homeless people suffering mental health
problems was an indictment on authorities.
“It shows that somebody
is not doing their own job which they are paid to do. People suffering from
mental health problems must be housed in appropriate shelters where they are
taken good care of. I will look into that issue and find out why such people
cannot be taken to such places as Ngomahuru,” said Chadzamira.
He, however, did not
specify which exactly among the many government departments was neglecting its duty
of removing those people from the streets and ensuring they are rehabilitated.
With the annual World
Mental Health Day being commemorated on October 10, there is growing awareness
on the need to fight the inherent social stigma associated with mental health
challenges, as well as the need to take greater interest in the welfare of people
suffering from mental health illnesses.
TellZim News asked Social
Welfare Department provincial head, Tawanda Zimhunga, if the minister – by
saying somebody was not doing their job – was not referring to them.
Zimhunga said it was not
their responsibility to remove people suffering from mental health problems
from the streets.
“I don’t think he was
referring to us because our responsibility does not extend to the removal of
those people from the streets. Those on the streets must be apprehended by the police
and send to Ngomahuru. We are equally worried by their homelessness and lack of
care but we can only intervene by providing some supplies when such people are
properly housed.
“I heard some of them are
escaping from Ngomahuru due to severe lack of food there. I will find out if
something is being done to make sure that they are kept safe there and are
prevented from escaping,” said Zimhunga.
Provincial Medical
Director (PMD) Dr Amadeus Shamu said it was not their statutory obligation to
remove people with mental health problems from the streets, claiming their role
was to provide treatment wherever it is possible to do so.
“It is not our
responsibility to remove them from the streets. In terms of the Mental Health
Act, they are treated not in our ordinary hospitals but in special institutions
of their own. It is the duty of the police in terms of the law to round up
those people and deliver them to the appropriate institutions.
“We once had an all
stakeholders meeting where it was agreed that if City of Masvingo could provide
the food supplies as per their pledge, we would all see to it that those people
are taken to Ngomahuru. Nothing has been done ever since and we are still
waiting for the council to give us an update. There are reports that Ngomahuru
is facing food shortages and cannot, therefore, accept more inmates,” said
Shamu.
City of Masvingo
Environmental Health Services director, Zvapano Munganasa backtracked on the
city’s pledge to help with food items, saying they did not have resources to
even provide enough water to rate-paying residents.
He said under such
circumstances, he did not see how it could be possible to fund the removal of
mentally challenged people from the streets in any way.
“Normally it’s the police,
PMD and the courts that must take them from the streets to safe places. We are,
however, also worried about the continued presence of those people on the
streets and we recently had discussions about it.
“We are struggling as a
city, but we would be glad to help in whatever small way possible. I advise
that the provincial medical directorate writes a formal letter to the city
requesting assistance. This is the season of the Mayor’s Christmas Cheer Fund
and we would see how Ngomahuru could best be assisted to take care of its
inmates and accept more,” said Munganasa.
Chapter 15:12, Section 13
of the Mental Health Act empowers police officers to apprehend ‘mentally
disordered’ or ‘intellectually handicapped’ people and hand them over to a
prison or mental institution if – among many other factors – they are deemed to
be a danger unto themselves and unto others, and if the surroundings are deemed
to be unsafe for them.
The police may apply for
a reception order if a person suffering from mental illness is a danger unto
self or unto others, or is ‘wandering at large and unable to take care of
himself’.
The law also
empowers the police to apprehend the mentally challenged and remove them from
the streets on condition that they are not under safe
and proper care, treatment or control; they
are neglected or cruelly treated by any person having
the care or charge of them; they are of
suicidal tendency or in any way dangerous to
themselves or to others and they act in a manner
offensive to public decency.
Homeless people suffering mental illness are generally
considered to be a danger to themselves and to others, while the environment
itself could in turn pose a danger to them.
In Masvingo, as in other
urban areas, these people sleep on the pavements, living off whatever they can
salvage from the filthy overflowing rubbish bins.
Some of them often
disrobe in public, actions that are not only extremely offensive to public
decency but also expose them to ridicule and abuse by other people.
The police, however, seem
to be largely ignoring the problem, much to the disappointment of business
owners on whose pavements homeless mentally challenged people sleep every night
and, in the morning, leave behind all sorts of unpleasant stuff for somebody
else to remove.
In response to questions
from TellZim News, provincial police spokesperson Inspector Kudakwashe Dhewa
said the police were doing their job to remove people will mental illness from
the streets, but many of the people always find their way back to the streets.
“We do take them to
appropriate places at regular intervals but some of them keep on coming back.
We appeal to families with people suffering from such illness to help us by
making sure they consistently take their medicine. We suspect some inmates who
get released from mental health institutions are not being encouraged to take
their medicines regularly and that is why you see the recurrence of this
problem.
“All of those people who
are living on the streets have at some time been removed and taken to
appropriate places but they are back. We plead with their families to make sure
these people are taken good care of,” said Dhewa.
He denied claims that the
police only pay attention when a homeless person suffering from mental ill
health attacks other people and property, or indulges in extreme public
indecency behavior.
At the government-run
Ngomahuru mental health rehabilitation centre, conditions are dire and inmates
are starving.
A source said the
situation was so bad that no inmate wants to remain there, with many having
escaped since the beginning of the year.
“There is no food and
there are no clothes. The inmates are hungry and they are ragged. Recently a
male inmate was rushed to Masvingo Provincial Hospital for emergency surgery
after he ate a plateful of dry soil. He spoke in no uncertain terms that he
took the soil because he was hungry.
“Some inmates housed
there show some good potential of recovery and successful rehabilitation but
the difficult conditions are a big letdown for them; they are making very
little, if any progress. If we had more favourable conditions, many inmates
would be leaving Ngomahuru fully rehabilitated and as better people every month,”
said the source.
