Fear of anthrax in Makuti
Saturday, 05 November 2011 22:36
By Tafadzwa Chiremba recently in MAKUTI
MORE than 40 animals in game parks along the Zambezi Valley have died over the past two months following a suspected anthrax outbreak that has also affected Zambia where about 230 people reportedly contracted the disease.
Thirty-three hippopotamuses, eight lions, two buffaloes, impalas and birds were found dead on the Zimbabwean side after the flooding Zambezi River subsided. The Parks and Wildlife Management Authority of Zimbabwe has since dispatched samples to the University of Zimbabwe Veterinary Services Department and South Africa for tests.
The test results could not be obtained by last week. The director-general of the authority, Mr Vitalis Chadenga, said preliminary indications showed that anthrax could be responsible for the deaths.
“Indications are that the animals died of anthrax. We are working with the University of Zimbabwe Veterinary Services Department in conducting tests,” he said.
Rangers discovered the first carcasses in September. More were later found along the valley where they are suspected to have died unnoticed.
Initially, reports suggested poachers were poisoning drinking pans in order to get elephant tusks. However, the giant mammals that died were not dismembered.
When The Sunday Mail visited Hambakwe Forest near Makuti, about 77km from Kariba, last week, elephant carcasses were strewn all over.
Several vultures that had fed on the contaminated flesh lay next to them. Most of the hippos were found dead in the Zambezi River.
Mr Chadenga said the deaths showed distinct traces of the deadly anthrax disease.
“The pattern of deaths is very much suggestive of anthrax bacterial mortality,” he said.
“Mortality appeared to have followed soon after floods in the Zambezi River subsided. Laboratory tests are under way in this country and in South Africa.”
Last month, reports from Zambia said more than 230 suspected cases were detected in humans. All the patients either ate or touched diseased hippo meat.
The source of the outbreak was believed to be a population of hippos in the Luangwa River where 62 animals died after showing signs of bacillus anthracis infection.
Laboratory results were positive.
The authorities promptly cordoned off Chama district where the cases were reported.
Apart from confiscating and destroying the hippo meat and carcasses, they also increased surveillance and community education.
Anthrax is a deadly disease that is caused by a bacterium known as bacillus anthracis.
It usually infects wild and domesticated herbivorous mammals that ingest or inhale dormant endospores formed from the bacterium.
Carnivores living in the same environment may contract the disease by consuming infected animals. Diseased animals can also spread anthrax to humans through direct contact. Some forms of the disease respond to antibiotic treatment, according to health experts.
Labels: CATTLE DISEASE, GAME PARKS, ZAMBEZI, ZAWA
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Power outages rile Zambezi residents
By Mwila Chansa
Tue 26 Jan. 2010, 04:01 CAT
SENIOR chief Ndungu of the Luvale people of Zambezi yesterday said people in the area are fed up to the point of wanting to demonstrate over persistent power blackouts in the district.
Confirming reports that Zambezi district had been in a power blackout for three weeks, chief Ndungu said people were not happy. He said he was briefed about a breakdown of the diesel-power generator and assured that the district was supposed to get a new generator but nothing had happed.
"It's critical because without electricity, life comes to a standstill. I am told in the past three days, they (Zesco) have started rationing electricity; I am told they have worked on the generator, but people are not happy," he said.
"People are fed up to the point of even wanting to demonstrate at the district commissioner's office."
Chief Ndungu also feared this year's floods might be worse than last year's.
"At the moment, (flood) waters have reached near the palace," he said.
Zambezi district commissioner Bissalomo Luwaile said only one generator was running, catering for sensitive institutions like the hospital and water plant, which were having steady supply of electricity.
Luwaile also said Zesco was rationing power to the residents.
He said he had a meeting with residents last Saturday where they resolved to wait for new machines to arrive from Dar-es-Salaam.
Luwaile said the machine that broke down had been worked on and was being expected in Zambezi by today.
Concerned Zambezi residents yesterday complained that due to lack of power, people were forced to go to the crocodile infested Zambezi River to draw water.
"Already, two people have been caught by crocodiles," complained one of the residents who preferred anonymity.
"People even wanted to demonstrate at the DC's office but he stopped them assuring them that Zesco had bought generators which were in Dar-es-Salaam. Imagine three weeks without power and the area member of parliament has done nothing," complained the resident.
"Imagine if someone dies today, you have to bury today because the mortuary is not working. I even wonder how nurses are taking care of patients especially at night," complained the source.
The residents said people in the area had been faithful voters of the MMD but were now disappointed that they could be treated in such a manner.
"People are annoyed with the MMD. The MMD should pull up their socks. They can't treat people this way," said the source.
Labels: CHIEF NDUNGU, FLOODS, POWER OUTAGES, ZAMBEZI
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COMMENT - " RESIDENTS in Zambezi district in North Western Province have threatened not to vote for the ruling MMD in the 2011 general elections unless the Mutanda-Chavuma road is tarred up to their area. " I think this is very cool. Votes for development - why not?
Zambezi residents vow not to vote for MMD over road
By Mutuna Chanda in Kitwe
Sat 19 Dec. 2009, 04:00 CAT
RESIDENTS in Zambezi district in North Western Province have threatened not to vote for the ruling MMD in the 2011 general elections unless the Mutanda-Chavuma road is tarred up to their area.
During a post-budget forum organised by Caritas Zambia under the Diocese of Solwezi following the recent presentation of the 2010 national budget by finance minister Dr Situmbeko Musokotwane, the residents complained of being discriminated against.
According to a report authored by Caritas Zambia North Western Province coordinator Frederick Nabanda, the residents also demanded access to hydroelectric power.
Nabanda presented the report to new North Western Province minister Daniel Kalenga.
“Unless the M8 Mutanda-Chavuma Road is tarred up to Zambezi, the ruling party will never get even a single vote in the 2011 general elections from voters there,” Nabanda stated.
In the recent Solwezi Central parliamentary by-election, the MMD’s seat was grabbed by the opposition PF-UPND pact whose candidate Watson Lumba defeated the ruling party’s Albert Chifita.
The defeat, critics say, was an indication of frustration at the MMD’s failure to improve the poor road network, provide piped water to the majority of residents among other concerns.
Nabanda stated that Zambezi residents expressed frustration at the government’s agriculture and education policies.
“The so called Fertiliser Support Programme has failed to bring about food security and government should stop making people believe that it is committed to promoting agricultural production in the country,” he stated. “As evidenced by the little allocation to the education sector it was clear that government did not take it as a priority if at all they have a development agenda for the country. If anything education, health and agricultural sectors are neglected and this should be put across to the government.”
Nabanda stated that during the tour of Zambezi his team paid a courtesy call on Chief Ishima of the Lunda people at his Kasesi Palace.
“During the discussions that centred on governance, the chief lamented the poor service delivery to his community,” stated Nabanda. “He asserted that from the way the country was run it was clear that the only people considered to be Zambians are those holding positions in government and not the ordinary citizenry.”
Labels: CARITAS, INFRASTRUCTURE, MMD, ROADS, ZAMBEZI
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Government takes over Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project
by
04/12/2009 00:00:00
A CENTURY-OLD ambitious plan to tap water from the Zambezi River to ease intermittent water shortages in parched Matabeleland is finally getting government attention.
Water Resources Minister Samuel Sipepa Nkomo announced Thursday that Zimbabwe’s unity government formed in February was assuming charge of the project “in terms of both leadership and management”.
A trust set up by concerned leaders from the Matabeleland region who accused the previous Zanu PF government of lacking the political will to push through the US$500 million project will now delegate to the government.
Nkomo said: “The project has assumed the much-needed political will that was lacking all along.
“We are hopeful that this would remove the many bottlenecks the project encountered over the years.
"The decision means the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project effectively becomes a government project … It ceases to be a regional one, with government being the accountable authority.”
Nkomo set no timeline of how the cash-strapped government would manage the project, first mooted by white colonial settlers in 1912.
“Our biggest commitment from now onwards will be to mobilise resources both financial and technical for the implementation of the project including the completion of the Gwayi-Shangani Dam [the first of three phases],” Nkomo said.
The Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project, as it has come to be known, includes three phases -- Phase One: construction of the Gwayi-Shangani Dam, Phase Two: construction of the Gwayi-Shangani Dam to Bulawayo Pipeline and the final Phase Three which will see the construction of a pipeline from the Gwayi-Shangani Dam to the Zambezi River.
By the end, a 450km pipeline will supply water to Bulawayo and create a green belt on its path.
Construction of the Gwayi-Shangani Dam – expected to provide a reservoir for the project -- began in September 2004 but has been hampered by lack of funding.
Successive budgetary allocations for the project were either a drop in the ocean, or diverted by the Zanu PF government, fuelling perceptions in the region that Matabeleland was being “marginalised”.
Political leaders in the region say the unreliable water supply has forced many companies shun the area, or relocate to Harare.
Bulawayo, the largest metropolis in the region, has managed to supply water to its 1.5 million people with the help of five dams -- Lower Ncema, Umzingwane, Upper Ncema, Inyankuni and Insiza.
The city’s water problems were magnified in 1992 when Zimbabwe was hit by its worst drought ever. In the 13 years preceding the drought, the region had only twice received normal rainfall.
Labels: INFRASTRUCTURE, IRRIGATION, WATER, ZAMBEZI
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