Three children in Bulawayo’s Luveve suburb have reportedly died from diarrhoea after drinking unsafe water pumped by Bulawayo City Council (BCC).
The children who reportedly died are Freedom Tshuma (13), Bongiwe Ndlovu (9) and an unidentified Form Four pupil after they complained of a stomach illness that resulted in severe diarrhoea.
Freedom’s aunt, Patricia Tshuma, told Sunday News that the teenager had been admitted to Mpilo Central Hospital and he passed away on Thursday afternoon. She said:
We are in great pain and shock that we can get sick from tap water as we had all along thought it is a trusted source. The water seems to have particles that look like tissues. Most of us are sick because of the dirty water and already there are three funerals because of this. We are appealing to the authorities to seriously look into the issue and fix the water.
BCC Health Services director Dr Edwin Sibanda said following complaints from residents they had collected water samples from the area and swabs from residents that had diarrhoea and sent them to the laboratory for testing and were awaiting the results.
However, on Friday, BCC issued a statement saying samples collected from municipal sampling points in the same area had satisfactory water quality.