Council pays visit to Luveve Victims

Bulawayo City Council (BCC) yielded to Luveve resident’s outcry and recently visited the families that lost their loved ones due to the typhoid dilemma that was reported as from the 17th of May 2020. Council officials who visited the families included BCC Mayor, His Worship Solomon Mguni and other Council officials.

In an interview with In Focus News, Mr Ndaba Ngoma, a representative from Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) said the gesture was long overdue and the visit by Council officials hardly altered the level of resident’s grief as they are still overwhelmed by the loss of their loved ones.

“We told the City Council about this matter when it had just started,” said Ngoma. “We asked them to come and console the bereaved families but they only came recently. Residents are not moved by this visit as their minds are still glued to the loss they incurred.”

He added that residents engaged the Mayor on water samples that were taken to laboratories by the City Council for testing. In response, the council officials said the results are not ready but will provide feedback soon.

“During a meeting that we conducted at the housing office before going to the families we made an inquiry about the results of the water sample,” said Ngoma. “The Mayor told us the results might take a while. We also want closure directly from the City Council about what happened to the water they pumped to our taps and made some of us sick.”

Asked about how the Municipality would categorise the visits it makes, the Senior Public Relations Officer at Bulawayo City Council (BCC), Mrs Nesisa Mpofu said: “Visits have been made to those families that are unwell and have been treated at the hospital, and those unwell but at home have been treated by health professionals.”

“It should be noted that once a visit has been made to a particular home, the team also covers the immediate neighbors,” she added.

According to media reports, prior to the outbreak, residents were up in arms with the local authority over pumping poor quality water, but council officials blamed residents for ‘unsafe water’ due to vandalizing infrastructure.

Over 1 814 cases have been identified since the typhoid outbreak which has claimed 13 lives.

Source: Women’s Institute for Leadership Development (WILD)

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