Harare,  (New Ziana) – The Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Douglas Mombeshora on Thursday appealed to the ministries of Local Government and Mines and Mining Development to join forces with his to combat the cholera outbreak in Mashonaland Central.

He made the remarks at Garikai Centre in Bindura as part of a fact-finding visit to Mashonaland Central district to assess the cholera outbreak.

This call to action aims to tackle the root causes of the outbreak, which is believed to be linked to artisanal miners working along the Mazowe River without access to proper toilets and sanitation.

Mashonaland Central has reported 340 cholera cases, resulting in eight deaths. The main areas affected are Mt Darwin, Bindura, Shamva and Rushinga. “All the cases are coming from one area along Mukarakatse River and a common denominator is artisanal mining,” he said.

“We visited one of the areas where there is a lot of gold panning taking place with poor sanitation conditions, toilets are not enough and this results to use of bush toilets which will then contaminate water sources.” He stressed the need for more effective measures to combat the spread of cholera, particularly in relation to artisanal mining operations.

“It is a bit of a challenge for us to institute the measures that we normally do,” added Mombeshora. “I will take this matter to cabinet next week to the Ministry of Mines and Local Government so that we can tackle this together.” He said the Ministry will provide medicines and other resources to artisanal miners to ensure their safety and combat the cholera outbreak.

“We discussed with the Provincial Medical Director and our suggestion is that we supply these artisanal miners with water treatment tablets so that the water is sterilised,” he added. “It might help us to reduce the cases.”

He also emphasized the need to redesign the housing settlements in Bindura (Garikai), as the homes are built too close together and on small plots, rendering it impossible to dig wells and septic tanks, which poses a significant health risk.

“There’s a clear lack of proper sewage management, shallow wells, and blair toilets, leading to water contamination. The small stand sizes of 250 square meters are unacceptable.”

New Ziana