Econet Wireless has taken its fight against cholera to a new level by shifting the focus from an emergency response to a sustained, collaborative campaign aimed at preventing future outbreaks of the epidemic.
BY Own correspondent
Speaking at the launch of the company’s Arise and Shine campaign in Harare’s Glen View suburb on Wednesday, Econet chief executive officer Douglas Mboweni said the goal of the campaign was to make a sustainable impact in addressing the root causes of the epidemic.
The company has donated over $15 million in the fight against cholera which has so far claimed 54 lives over the past two months.
Addressing over 300 local volunteers, local residents, community leaders, senior Econet, Cassava, Higherlife Foundation and Steward bank executives and staff, as well as representatives from the City of Harare and the Environmental Management Agency, Mboweni urged the local community to take ownership of cleanliness of its close environs.
“Although we are launching a month-long clean-up campaign today, our message is it should not end in a month’s time, but we should arise and take up responsibility for the cleanness of our homes, our streets and neighborhoods, so that we restore Harare to its former ‘sunshine city’ status,” he said.
Econet has mobilised 20 skip bins and two refuse trucks in Glen View and Budiriro — the epicentres of the current cholera crisis and was also working on an $5 million infrastructure rehabilitation project in the areas.
