Residents of Gardineir farm who were recently evicted from their homes have resorted to living a in fowl run brewing a health time bomb that might explode anytime soon.
By Fadzai Ndangana and Nicole Kurebwaseka
The families are now highly exposed to cholera and typhoid due to poor ablution facilities and other important sanitation requirements.
The families in question were evicted on April 3 after the farm ownership changed hands to Keith tailor, exposing them to diseases.
The new landlord is said to have contracted Matipano to evict the farm workers arguing that he had secured new workers.
Having been evicted from their lodgings, the workers were forced to live under squalid conditions, that is in fowl runs, a health time bomb that might explode anytime.
“The new owner did not even notify us that he had bought the farm. He simply used force to remove our property off the farm,” Tafataona Mutisi (pseudo name).
A total of 129 families have resorted to sourcing shelter from the big fowl run which they have subdivided into compartments using sacks.
The families have failed to access proper ablution facilities, leaving them with only one option which is using the bush as well as river water for their daily requirements.
“The situation might be brewing yet another national disaster. People living under these conditions are prone to cholera and in this situation it can spread like a veld fire as people are relieving themselves everywhere. The water that we using for daily requirements has a funny sour taste while most of the kids are coughing because of the dust,” said Mercy Mungofa (pseudo name).
She added, “There is no water. Mosquitoes are causing havoc and we now fear for the outbreak of malaria as well especially to the children.”
