Opinion / Columnist
Linda Masarira condemns Harare-Copakabana hygienic conditions!
30 Mar 2017 at 15:56hrs | Views
She is dead right for once. I agree with Linda Masarira that the conditions in our capital Harare-Copacabana are a serious threat to health. But it is not in Harare alone: in all town and cities of Zimbabwe: there are very short of public toilets or none at all. If there are toilets there so filthy and unusable, going to the back street is the next alternative. Linda is testing activism and she has now got another lance to see issues that pertain our societies in Zimbabwe. At the same breath, Linda should also know that selling food in un-designated places is a health scare. When we critique our government's shortcomings it is also important to holistically critique situations that put our citizens in danger of typhoid rd and cholera. Criticizing the Minister for banning people from selling food in undesignated places was not in the interest of the citizens per se. That was pure politics!
It is not possible to say we support vendors' but not in a position to see the health aspect of vending that can put the health of our citizens in a serious irrevocable consequences. We have experienced deaths due to typhoid and now at the moment its cholera in our midst. We need to put people before politics. While it is politic to vend to survive, vending in places where there is no running water and a single toilet in the vicinity can cause serious deaths to our beloved citizens. In almost all towns in Zimbabwe the local governments are not doing their work to the satisfaction of the town dwellers, but the town residents are asked to pay for the services that do not exist.
There were good to very good rains in Zimbabwe but there is no single drop of water in the residents' sinks to show that there was bumper rainfall this year. We hear of unimaginable monthly wages done to Mayors and town clacks in all Zimbabwe towns: by the way they get more pay than the most developed countries in the world. Their monthly wages do not in anywhere correspond to the services they provide. Their services are sub-standard to say the least, but they allow themselves hefty monthly payments that will make Donald Trump "throw up" from disgust.
When the Minister of Health Dr. Parerinyatwa banned the selling of food in undesignated places he knew what he was doing. He is not only accountable to the government of Zimbabwe but to the WHO in Geneva. He has to tell the authorities how he is going to curb the water-borne diseases recurring in Zimbabwe. This initiative has nothing to do with politics of Zanu PF at all. He has to adhere to the national and international guidelines enshrined in the WHO template. People before politics dear Linda Masarira!
There was a survey in all towns in Zimbabwe regarding the typhoid disease. The findings of the survey were very disturbing indeed. I need to know the source: who did the surveys regarding this special survey. However the survey revealed that in all towns of Zimbabwe 90% of the boreholes had traces of human faeces. The survey also indicated that all people who volunteered to be tested: 50% of them had traces of faeces in their hands. This revelation was shocking to all but let's be factual: if there are no public toilets in Copacabana, the mass movement of people will tell you at some time they will definitely need a toilet. Where do they do their "number two"? Having done their "number two," where do they wash their hands? To be rude just for once: people are served food with unwashed hands! In Latin I would have said: fecal–oral route or alternatively the oral–fecal route or orofecal route) This is where the health scare comes from! This is what WHO fears hence they made directives to the Zimbabwean health ministry to ban all undesignated place that sell food items. Linda Masarira must know this!
Millions of Combi-Drivers, vendors, visitors of Harare from villages have to go to the toilet? But where is this toilet for all in Copacabana? When Linda complained about the state of Copacabana I could relate this well with my own experience in Harare and Bulawayo. For once the girl Linda is dead right I support her fully in this aspect of Copacabana health issues. Copacabana used to be one of the best places Harare could ever have. But today the smell of everything coming from this place is not at all inviting you to our Capital City, it has become a den of all health problems – except IBOLA: let alone the money people are chasing day and night ever to survive. I fear the day IBOLA will enter Zimbabwe in all honesy!
Dear Linda activism means being holistic in approach: we should never compromise the health of the citizens with cheap politics. Tell the vendors what they do not want to hear sometimes! Tell them to go where they are supposed to sell their food and keep the health of our citizens first before profit. It rained cats and dogs in Zimbabwe yes. We welcome the gift of rains, what God had done to us: giving us so much rain, something we needed most. But this rain too has devastating effects on the health of our citizens. The rains washed all the human remains (faeces) in the Zimbabwean bushes and are now collected in our rivers and wells. Those rain waters in wells and rivers are a blessing and a curse at the same time.
We are a developing country whose government will never take advantage of the good rains and really make our lives better by not suffering from water sanctions again for the next three years.
We still need to lean the culture of washing our hands all the time. This is a very sensitive point to highlight to the nation. The culture of washing can curb numerous diseases in developing countries. Such small acts of correctly washing of hands: we still need to instil and impart this knowledge in our cultures ever to know what it means to go to the toilet and you do not wash your hands: it means passing on deadly diseases that are curable. It is outrageous to say this openly but that is where our problems in developing countries start and stop: not knowing the culture of washing our hand after the toilet use. E-coli bacteria are ever present in our faeces: if hands are not washed we pass it on silently to the next we shake hands with: numerous deaths are the results of poor hygiene.
It is not possible to say we support vendors' but not in a position to see the health aspect of vending that can put the health of our citizens in a serious irrevocable consequences. We have experienced deaths due to typhoid and now at the moment its cholera in our midst. We need to put people before politics. While it is politic to vend to survive, vending in places where there is no running water and a single toilet in the vicinity can cause serious deaths to our beloved citizens. In almost all towns in Zimbabwe the local governments are not doing their work to the satisfaction of the town dwellers, but the town residents are asked to pay for the services that do not exist.
There were good to very good rains in Zimbabwe but there is no single drop of water in the residents' sinks to show that there was bumper rainfall this year. We hear of unimaginable monthly wages done to Mayors and town clacks in all Zimbabwe towns: by the way they get more pay than the most developed countries in the world. Their monthly wages do not in anywhere correspond to the services they provide. Their services are sub-standard to say the least, but they allow themselves hefty monthly payments that will make Donald Trump "throw up" from disgust.
When the Minister of Health Dr. Parerinyatwa banned the selling of food in undesignated places he knew what he was doing. He is not only accountable to the government of Zimbabwe but to the WHO in Geneva. He has to tell the authorities how he is going to curb the water-borne diseases recurring in Zimbabwe. This initiative has nothing to do with politics of Zanu PF at all. He has to adhere to the national and international guidelines enshrined in the WHO template. People before politics dear Linda Masarira!
There was a survey in all towns in Zimbabwe regarding the typhoid disease. The findings of the survey were very disturbing indeed. I need to know the source: who did the surveys regarding this special survey. However the survey revealed that in all towns of Zimbabwe 90% of the boreholes had traces of human faeces. The survey also indicated that all people who volunteered to be tested: 50% of them had traces of faeces in their hands. This revelation was shocking to all but let's be factual: if there are no public toilets in Copacabana, the mass movement of people will tell you at some time they will definitely need a toilet. Where do they do their "number two"? Having done their "number two," where do they wash their hands? To be rude just for once: people are served food with unwashed hands! In Latin I would have said: fecal–oral route or alternatively the oral–fecal route or orofecal route) This is where the health scare comes from! This is what WHO fears hence they made directives to the Zimbabwean health ministry to ban all undesignated place that sell food items. Linda Masarira must know this!
Millions of Combi-Drivers, vendors, visitors of Harare from villages have to go to the toilet? But where is this toilet for all in Copacabana? When Linda complained about the state of Copacabana I could relate this well with my own experience in Harare and Bulawayo. For once the girl Linda is dead right I support her fully in this aspect of Copacabana health issues. Copacabana used to be one of the best places Harare could ever have. But today the smell of everything coming from this place is not at all inviting you to our Capital City, it has become a den of all health problems – except IBOLA: let alone the money people are chasing day and night ever to survive. I fear the day IBOLA will enter Zimbabwe in all honesy!
Dear Linda activism means being holistic in approach: we should never compromise the health of the citizens with cheap politics. Tell the vendors what they do not want to hear sometimes! Tell them to go where they are supposed to sell their food and keep the health of our citizens first before profit. It rained cats and dogs in Zimbabwe yes. We welcome the gift of rains, what God had done to us: giving us so much rain, something we needed most. But this rain too has devastating effects on the health of our citizens. The rains washed all the human remains (faeces) in the Zimbabwean bushes and are now collected in our rivers and wells. Those rain waters in wells and rivers are a blessing and a curse at the same time.
We are a developing country whose government will never take advantage of the good rains and really make our lives better by not suffering from water sanctions again for the next three years.
We still need to lean the culture of washing our hands all the time. This is a very sensitive point to highlight to the nation. The culture of washing can curb numerous diseases in developing countries. Such small acts of correctly washing of hands: we still need to instil and impart this knowledge in our cultures ever to know what it means to go to the toilet and you do not wash your hands: it means passing on deadly diseases that are curable. It is outrageous to say this openly but that is where our problems in developing countries start and stop: not knowing the culture of washing our hand after the toilet use. E-coli bacteria are ever present in our faeces: if hands are not washed we pass it on silently to the next we shake hands with: numerous deaths are the results of poor hygiene.
Source - Harare-Copacabana
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