A Gweru City Council internal report released on July 23 has attributed the typhoid outbreak that claimed eight lives in August last year to human error by council employees.
The outbreak also left 2 000 requiring medical assistance. The report suggests that employees did not apply due diligence when the council resumed the use of water tanks that had not been in use for over twenty years. Part of the report reads:
There are allegations that the water was pumped into the decommissioned tanks which were idle for over two decades ago exposing the residents to compromised water quality. Tanks 1, 2 and 3 in Mkoba 14 were not flashed, nor scoured and backwashed as demanded by the procedure, a violation of safety and health of the residents.
The report also reveals that the employees used old equipment and safety wear which was contrary to the expected standards and procedures.
The committee which compiled the report recommended that the Town Clerk, Ms Elizabeth Gwatipedza, further interrogates why decommissioned water reservoirs were filled with water without following due process.
More: The Chronicle