By Meditation Mposi
ZAKA –A Zaka village head recently imposed fines on villagers without toilets at their homes, giving them an ultimatum on when they should have built the ablution facilities.
Villagers had mixed feelings over the issue, with some saying it was a noble idea while others said they did not have the required resources even if they wanted to build the toilets.
The concerned village head, Joseph Mutubuki, who is Matigimu Village Head confirmed the development and said he had given villagers ample time of about two years to make sure that each household had a toilet, with most of them complying except for a few whom fined.
“Yes I fined the villagers without toilets at their homes because I gave them enough time to address the situation. We agreed on a timeline of about two years and we agreed as a village that those who fail should have some sort of punishment and that is what I am simply implementing,” said Mutubuki.
He went on to say the decision to fine them was necessitated by the fact that last year (2024) they had three cases of cholera and recorded one fatality in the village so the first step towards avoiding a repeat of that was to have ablution facilities at households.
“We had three cases of cholera last year and one fatality, so I decided to speed up construction of toilets in the village though it’s something that we had already agreed on. The fines are just a tiny slap on the hand for people to take the issue seriously. We understand things are hard and we have allowed people to have at least a proper pit and use grass or paper for walls as a temporary measure,” said Mutubuki.
He went on to appeal to authorities to address water challenges in the area saying people were drinking water directly from Mutirikwi River.
“The village has no single borehole, people rely on wells during rainy season but mainly, they rely on Mutirikwi River and this puts the village at risk in case of an outbreak.
He said the whole village has about 40 households and 10 households were yet to have toilets and each was fined US$5.
Chief Nyakunhuwa born Oswell Maguta hailed the move by the village head saying he was on the right track in enforcing the health requirements that every household should have a toilet.
He said the fine was very minimal and looking at the broader perspective, it was a right call to enforce the requirement that save lives.
“What the village head did is very right, toilets are a requirement for every household and so enforcing their establishment is a noble idea worse considering the minimal fines charged.
“We have three types of people in the community, the ones who know what is required and do, we have those who want to be told before they do what is required and the last group which does not act even if they are told. So this group requires a push for them to act,” said Nyakunhuwa.
He said the charge was very minimal compared to the number of lives that would be saved by construction of toilets at all households in an area.
Ward 17 Councillor Chrispen Watadza said the idea was noble but punishing people could not be the solution. He however urged the village heads not to look at the issue of toilets alone but ensure that their all children I the school going age are going to school.
“The idea is very noble but the village heads should also make sure that their subjects send children to school.at the same time they cannot send sick children to school so while sanitation is of paramount importance, traditional leaders should look at both issues,” said Watadza.
