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Peter Chawapiwa
17 March 2017, MPANDAWANA – The Ministry of Health and Child Care has threatened to close down the council-run Mutamba Beerhall and the nearby Hwiru Market unless renovations are made to ablution facilities and water supplies are restored.
In a letter addressed to the Gutu Rural District Council (RDC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dumisani Nkomo, the District Environmental Health Office says council must attend to the renovations before April 24 failure of which the beer hall and market would be closed down.
The letter was written after concerns were raised by residents in the new town that sanitation facilities in the two places were poor and posed a serious health threat to the people.
“This letter serves as a warning to the City Council to renovate toilets that serve Mutamba Beerhall and takeaway in Hwiru. The water system for the toilets should be reopened and the toilets should be renovated as their state is now dilapidated.
“The ministry has also noted that toilets for Hwiru market should be reopened so that proper disposal of human waste can be implemented so as to curb the spread of typhoid and other diseases,” reads part of the letter.
The letter states that failing to meet the required standards means that council is operating in breach of section 82, 85 (a), (f), (ii), (l) Chapter 15:09 of the Public Health Act.
Gutu RDC CEO, Alexander Mutembwa, was not immediately available for comment but sources within the council said proposals had been made to close down the bar as it was operating at a loss.
Councillors who spoke to TellZim News, however, said they were not aware that such communication had been received by council.
Chairperson of the town board, Gabriel Mapepa, also professed ignorance of such communication but admitted that the situation at the beerhall and market place was a cause for concern.
Last year residents in the town called on authorities to expedite the gazetting of Mpandawana’s new status as a town saying that was the only way to improve service delivery.local
