Source: Blame game doesn’t solve cholera crisis – DailyNews Live
STAFF WRITER 18 September 2018
HARARE – The cholera outbreak in Harare and its devastating effects which
have killed innocent lives and left thousands needing treatment, are a
painful reminder to every Zimbabwean of the serious problems confronting
our beautiful country.
It is sad that lives continue to be lost to medieval diseases such as
cholera when we are living in modern times.
As renowned playwright William Shakespeare writes: “What’s done cannot be
undone”, Zimbabweans must stop the blame game and deal constructively with
this epidemic and avoid outbreaks of other infectious diseases by coming
together – irrespective of political or religious affiliation – because
the cholera problem has affected us as a collective.
The biggest lesson to emerge from this crisis is that we didn’t learn from
the 2008 situation when over 4 000 people died from the same disease –
which then president Robert Mugabe administration declared a national
emergency.
Today’s disaster is neither an MDC-run Harare City Council nor a President
Emmerson Mnangagwa’s problem.
The cholera outbreak is a sad but timely reminder to both local
authorities and government to prioritise people at the expense of
profligacy and misplaced priorities.
For Mnangagwa, the cholera outbreak serves to remind him and his
stone-broke government to find ways of rehabilitating the old sewer and
water reticulation systems which, during the short-lived 2009 inclusive
government, weren’t given further attention after Unicef poured in $17
million.
Mnangagwa and his government must find ways of complementing councils
towards the sewer and water rehabilitation projects as the resurgence of
cholera clearly underlines the sorry state of the current infrastructure.
What is causing cholera is the antiquated piping system which is no longer
compatible with the obtaining population densities hence the recurring
burst sewer pipes.
On their part, local authorities need to curb their appetite for funding
huge salaries at the expense of service delivery.
A long-standing Cabinet directive of 30:70 ratio which stipulates that
local authorities should spend 30 percent of their revenues on salaries
and the remainder on service delivery, must be enforced.
And more importantly, government should allow the local authorities to
execute their plans without interference.
It is fair to say previous governments have stymied developments in most
cities and towns run by opposition councils either by suspending
councillors or replacing them with useless commissions.
Mnangagwa needs to show that he doesn’t belong in the past while councils
must inspire confidence.
That way Zimbabwe can emerge from the clutches of medieval diseases such
as cholera.
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