Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Association (BVTA) in partnership with other organisations have offered assistance to Luveve residents who were affected by the diarrhoea outbreak.
The suburb experienced a diarrhoea outbreak which resulted in the deaths of at least 13 people and affected thousands of residents.
Speaking to CITE on Friday, BVTA Director Michael Ndiweni said they rendered support to the affected residents with some receiving medical assistance.
“After seeing that residents in Luveve were affected by the diarrhoea outbreak, we came together with other organisations to offer assistance to the residents,” said Ndiweni.
“We then formed what we termed Citizen working group on good governance to go on ground and engage with individuals who were directly affected, we tried to assist even with medical assistance.
“Some residents received assistance with drips, some were taken for scans while others received pills. We even assisted with food hampers so that they have something to eat while taking their medication.”
Relieving her ordeal, one of the victims, Thembelihle Simango said one of the challenges they faced during the time was that the unavailability of running water.
“I felt weak and spent most of the time in the toilet. It was quite difficult because we had no water to flush the toilets,” said Simango.
“I had tried to follow the guidelines to boil the water before consuming it but it seems it was highly contaminated and we ended up buying purifying pills that is when the situation got better.”
Ashley Funye from the Citizen Manifesto implored council representatives to assist communities during crisis times.
