Harare women 'no longer want to wash their private parts'

A Harare based Female Prisoners' Support Trust director, Rita Nyamupinga, allegedly told the capital city's mayor Bernard Manyenyeni that women in the big city "no longer want to wash their private parts".

Apparently Manyenyeni said this during a residents consultative meeting recently.

"We no longer want want to wash our private parts with tap water because it might cause cervical cancer. We are not biochemists, but we worry about our health and need to take precautions," Rita Nyamupinga - Female Prisoners' Support Trust director told Harare mayor Bernard Manyenyeni during a residents consultative meeting recently.

Christopher Magadza, a researcher reportedly told journalists that for every glass of Harare water there is "50% water and 50% treated urine, which again is not being treated so well."

Magadza also said: "We will have so many troubles - excluding cholera and typhoid - an increase in liver cancer. Imagine what 11 chemicals will do to your stomach."

Former Harare mayor, Muchadei Masunda said Mukuvisi river, which feeds into late Chivero - the city's main reservoir - runs through Harare's industrial area where it collects all manners of waste and dangerous chemical outputs.

According to MyZimbabwe, a lot of raw sewage also flows into the lake, fostering the growth of problematic and invasive hyacinth weed.

Medical practitioners say most cases of cervical cancer are caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV). It is a virus that is passed from person to person through genital contact, most often during sex.

Harare women, are reportedly planning to demonstrate against Harare's tap water.

"When you put tap water in a glass and let it settle you can see a later of dirt - surely that can't be healthy. We will have to descend on Town House to put our concerns to city fathers over the issue," added Nyamupinga.