NEWSDAY on Monday carried distressing reports of confirmed cholera cases in Zvishavane. Yes — cholera. We are now in 2026, years after the devastating outbreaks the country has witnessed in the past, the worst being in 2008 when more than 4 000 lives were lost.
Despite this painful history, councils — on whose shoulders the responsibility to provide safe drinking water rests — have reneged on their duty. Clean and safe drinking water must simply be available.
It is morally indefensible for local authorities to charge residents for water supplies that never arrive, forcing communities to rely on shallow wells that expose them to deadly diseases such as cholera and typhoid.
The government is fully aware of these shortcomings and the consequences that follow, yet corrective action remains inadequate.
The Zvishavane outbreak has been linked to the consumption of contaminated borehole water.
The cases emerged after health authorities in Rushinga district earlier this year confirmed cholera infections and fatalities associated with a spillover from an outbreak in neighbouring Mozambique.
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In Harare and Chitungwiza, sewer problems have become routine. Their main water source, Lake Chivero, remains heavily polluted by effluent discharged directly by councils and industries into waterways feeding the lake.
Burst sewer pipes, flash flooding and uncollected garbage frequently contaminate boreholes and other open water sources.
Residents of some parts of Chitungwiza in particular, have complained of living alongside raw sewage daily.
Urgent action must be taken to contain the Zvishavane outbreak before the disease spreads to other areas with catastrophic consequences.
With no reliable source of potable water, many residents are forced to depend on unprotected wells. In urban areas, recurring sewer bursts and poor waste management continue to pollute boreholes and open water sources. If councils provided reliable tap water, boreholes would merely serve as emergency alternatives.
The government, as the overarching authority, knows local authorities have repeatedly failed in the past and should have intervened timely and decisively before lives were put at risk.
Authorities must ensure councils understand and fulfil their mandate. Access to clean and safe drinking water is a constitutional right, and those who violate that right cannot continue to escape accountability.
It is time government acted decisively against underperforming local authorities. They cannot continue sleeping on duty while citizens die from medieval diseases that should no longer threaten Zimbabwe in this day and age.
The Zvishavane outbreak must serve as a reminder of the deadly cost of inaction, and of the lives that could be lost if the disease spreads to other parts of the country.