Health hazard looms at Cold Store Commission

The reason for this desperate situation is that since the country’s independence, residential flats built for cattle market workers do not have toilets or access to toilet facilities. A reliable source informed this reporter that old toilets, built long before independence, have been dysfunctional for more than thirty years, forcing residents to use the nearby trees and cattle pens as their ‘bush toilet’.

The more than ten families who reside here do not have the luxury of even one single, working toilet between the lot of them. This situation has been described by the newly established Gweru United Progressive Residents and Ratepayers Development Association as inhumane.

“The market place is a ticking health time bomb, which if not urgently addressed will lead to the outbreak of cholera and/or other water borne diseases. There is an urgent need for fully functioning toilet facilities before it is too late.

What surprised this reporter and the residents most is that neither one of the three ‘reputable’ stakeholders who run the institution, namely the Gweru City Council, Vungu Rural District Council and Cold Store Commission have done anything to improve the disgusting living conditions even though they make an income from the venture. Not one single, working toilet to be found,” said Gweru United Progressive Residents and Ratepayers Development Association’s secretary general, David Chikore.

Chikore, who is also a local pastor, urged the the government and the city fathers to collectively address this problem before it escalates.

During a recent visit, our health news crew were disgusted by the horrible stench of urine and faeces emanating from the area surrounding the market. Some commercial cattlemen told this reporter that the accommodation was not fit for human habitation.

Although residents acknowledge that the place is inhabitable and that they ‘live like pigs’, they are forced to stay there because they cannot afford higher rentals.

“There are no toilets here, you as a visitor will have to go to the cattle pens, dig a hole to relieve yourself and then fill the hole. It’s best to use the cattle pens near the gumtrees, said an elderly man that works for Cold Storage Commission a company that has been involved in cattle sales and auctions since its formation in 1911 and that has offices in Bulawayo and Gweru.

“This building and it’s surrounds are bad enough for adults, but even worse for children. We have always been at risk of water borne diseases because the facilities are not fit for human occupation,” said another resident.