News / National
Harare Magistrates' Courts Hit by Typhoid Outbreak
11 Feb 2012 at 06:27hrs | Views
THE Harare Magistrates' Courts was yesterday forced to close after a suspected typhoid outbreak that affected magistrates and other staff. The court complex has been without running water for the past few weeks.
The court was sitting only up to lunchtime for the rest of last week because of the shortage of water.
Sources yesterday said at least five magistrates and more than 20 clerks of court were sent home in the morning after they were allegedly affected by the disease.
An undisclosed number of prosecutors were also affected with some of them failing to report for duty due to illness.
Witnesses and suspects were sent back.
"Some magistrates and clerks of court were sent home in the morning after they exhibited symptoms of the deadly disease," said an official at the courts who declined to be named.
"The most affected were vomiting and the closure of toilets due to the water problem did not help the situation.
" To avert the water crisis, the Attorney General's Office had provided 24 packs of bottled water for magistrates, prosecutors and other staff.
Officials at the courts attributed the water problem to a fault, which council promised to quickly attend to.
Harare City Council spokesperson Mr Leslie Gwindi, confirmed the water problem at the courts, saying it was due to a major breakdown in the Kopje area.
"Yes, we actually received the report and we discovered that it was due to a major breakdown at the Kopje area in Harare, " he said.
"Our guys have since attended to the problem and if the water is not yet flowing, it could be a different problem again. We are sending our guys from Harare Water now to find out."
The courts were spruced up at the end of last year and hygienic standards had improved until last week when there were problems with water supplies.
A source at the courts said the water problem was hampering the speedy completion of court cases thereby creating backlogs.
Toilets are not functioning and efforts by the authorities to lock them failed after some people kept on breaking in due to non-availability of alternative toilets.
It was not clear by yesterday if the courts will be re-opened next week because of the gravity of the water problem.
Harare was hit by a typhoid outbreak at the end of last year which has affected more than 1 000 people.
The court was sitting only up to lunchtime for the rest of last week because of the shortage of water.
Sources yesterday said at least five magistrates and more than 20 clerks of court were sent home in the morning after they were allegedly affected by the disease.
An undisclosed number of prosecutors were also affected with some of them failing to report for duty due to illness.
Witnesses and suspects were sent back.
"Some magistrates and clerks of court were sent home in the morning after they exhibited symptoms of the deadly disease," said an official at the courts who declined to be named.
"The most affected were vomiting and the closure of toilets due to the water problem did not help the situation.
" To avert the water crisis, the Attorney General's Office had provided 24 packs of bottled water for magistrates, prosecutors and other staff.
Officials at the courts attributed the water problem to a fault, which council promised to quickly attend to.
Harare City Council spokesperson Mr Leslie Gwindi, confirmed the water problem at the courts, saying it was due to a major breakdown in the Kopje area.
"Yes, we actually received the report and we discovered that it was due to a major breakdown at the Kopje area in Harare, " he said.
"Our guys have since attended to the problem and if the water is not yet flowing, it could be a different problem again. We are sending our guys from Harare Water now to find out."
The courts were spruced up at the end of last year and hygienic standards had improved until last week when there were problems with water supplies.
A source at the courts said the water problem was hampering the speedy completion of court cases thereby creating backlogs.
Toilets are not functioning and efforts by the authorities to lock them failed after some people kept on breaking in due to non-availability of alternative toilets.
It was not clear by yesterday if the courts will be re-opened next week because of the gravity of the water problem.
Harare was hit by a typhoid outbreak at the end of last year which has affected more than 1 000 people.
Source - TH
