InfocusNews 11 - 15 July 2022
screening and treatment services to residents. Gugomhle Ntini from Cowdray Park, one of the high risk suburbs, said the mobile screening program helped many residents access healthcare services easier as they do not have nearby facilities.
Bulawayo recording an increase in TB deaths of 167/100 000 population. The
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ulawayo recorded a 40 percent increase in TB deaths in the month of May with reports showing that Emakhandeni district had the highest number of new cases recorded during the same month.
According to recent council minutes, there were 107 TB notifications recorded during the month of May. The City of Bulawayo currently has the highest TB death rate of 16 percent, which is higher than the nationally set target of less than 5 percent, due to a myriad of risk factors chief among them being the high TB/HIV co-infection, delayed presentation at health facilities and rampart overcrowding in some of the city’s settlements. In Bulawayo, the 2021 notification rate (174/100 000 population) was higher than the expected target facebook.com/wildtrustzim |
notification rate has since declined from 258/100 000 population in 2016 to 174/100 000 population in 2021. Lost to follow has remained at 2 percent (less than the National target of less than 5 percent since 2016. “There was a marked increase of 27 percent in the TB notifications in May. Emakhandeni District had the highest number of notifications. TB deaths increased significantly by 40 percent,” read the council minutes. The high number of cases drove council to conduct a ten-day long TuberCulosis (TB) screening as part of its efforts to address the prevalence of the killer disease in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Child Care. The targeted screening was from 10 to 14 July 2022 where a mobile clinic went around high-risk areas around the city to offer free
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“There is a lot of overcrowding in Cowdray Park which makes us more vulnerable to TB and other diseases. However we do not have health facilities at the moment and it was difficult for us to go for screening, hence the prevalence and high TB mortality rates in our area,” said Ntini. “We applaud the council and the Ministry for reaching out to us because we need such projects to weed out poor health seeking behaviors. We hope that the council will consider phase two before the year ends so that those who missed out during these 10 days may benefit.” said Ntini. The screening targeted health care workers, people with HIV, diabetic patients, miners and ex-miners, ex-prisoners, prisoners, prison workers, malnourished children, those who have lived with or worked with someone who has TB, elderly people above 65 years, people living in congregate settings and those with symptoms such as night sweats, loss of weight, cough of more than a week or cough of any duration.
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InfocusNews He said the establishment of the One Stop Centre is an attempt to complement the efforts by the Government to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. “The expectation is that this will lead to a better understanding of the realities of GBV and promote the establishment of a GBV free society,” added Dr Gumbo.
GBV survivors to benefit from one stop centre at Mpilo Hospital
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he Women Affairs Ministry has partnered with donors to construct a one stop centre which will cater for gender based violence (GBV) survivors in Bulawayo and beyond. Construction of the one stop centre is under way at Mpilo Central Hospital where survivors will easily access legal, health and counselling aid from well-trained service providers. Lack of resources and such facilities has been fuelling under reportage of GBV especially sexual abuse in Zimbabwe. It is estimated that nearly 40 percent of the Zimbabwean women have experienced either physical or sexual violence at some point in their lifetime. Soneni Mlambo a residents from Mzilikazi said the centre will bring relief to women who have struggled to find help when violated. “Sometimes we fail to report these cases as we will be ordered to go to
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four different places and narrate the same story before justice is served. The process itself was draining and costly but with a one stop centre, we will be confident that our cases will be treated with respect and the urgency they deserve. We have for the longest time let offenders go scot-free because the system discouraged us from reporting but with this centre, justice will definitely prevail,” said Mlambo. Speaking during a tour of the building, Minister of State for Presidential Affairs and Monitoring Implementation of Government Programmes Dr Joram Gumbo said the Centre will provide multidisciplinary services to survivors including health, legal, counselling, psycho-social support and protection. “The centre is strategically situated here at Mpilo Hospital because in most instances, the first port of call for survivors of gender-based violence is a health institution,” he said.
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Bulawayo State Minister of Provincial Affairs and Devolution Cde Judith Ncube said the centre will bring relief to many survivors especially women who struggled to get the services before. “We are grateful to the Government and our development partners who have brought this service for our people. In the past women would be raped and then told to visit five different offices incurring costs which discouraged them from seeking justice. Now with this centre we know they will be catered for and those outside Bulawayo, will also get everything they need,” she said. It has also been reported that one in three of these women experienced physical or sexual violence before reaching the age of 18. Forms of GBV include intimate partner violence, sexual violence, child marriage, female genital mutilation, trafficking for sexual exploitation and female infanticide. Over the past years GBV survivors have been silenced due to costs associated with making reports which gives perpetrators a way to continue abusing more.
InfocusNews Besides political affiliation, gender, economic status and ethnicity were also cited as factors triggering conflict. “There is a need to first fix our national politics to build tolerance for divergent political views. This can be done through increasing civic education on tolerance. It is also important to design inclusive social programmes that bring together different political actors.
CSOs called to foster peace
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resh calls have been made for civil society organisations to implement more programs that foster peace amid revelations that political affiliations are the number one leading cause of conflict in Zimbabwean communities. This is according to the State of Peace Report which is an annual product of ZimRights’ Right to Peace Campaign. The report captures peace concerns and issues in the communities. “In the areas covered, political ideology or affiliation is most likely to trigger violent conflict. This concern featured in all the 6 areas covered while in other areas it came out subtly when participants were discussing access to food aid,” read the report. “It would then become clear that while the situation that necessitated economic inequalities was economic, food was then distributed along political lines making it also an issue of political ideology or affiliation.”
“Solutions to addressing gender based violence which include creating community structures for detecting domestic violence must be pursued to ensure that more cases, including the unreported, are detected and dealt with. There is need to open a dialogue platform with local police stations on how to combat corruption and ensure that perpetrators of domestic violence face justice,” read the document. Commenting on the report Manatsa Tshuma from Cowdray Park said some conflicts had been passed on to the younger generation due to failure by the government to foster unity. “We are young and waiting for the day we will be able to express our political views without suffering consequences like now. The problem is that everything is politicised in Zimbabwe, you cannot be free without attracting those who will link you to a political party. We need changes in that for us to be peaceful, we look forward to a more progressed Zimbabwe as youths,” said Tshuma. Sihle Mdlongwa another resident
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from Bulawayo said most issues are historic and for peace to reign, leaders should be deliberate in rewriting the history of Zimbabwe to end the conflicts. “The political squabbles are directly linked to ethnicity just like resources and all challenges that people are facing. The report reflects reality and unless we tackle some underlying issues like Gukurahundi, we cannot move forward and create communities where peace thrives,” she said.
“We are young and waiting for the day we will be able to express our political views without suffering consequences like now...”
Electoral Information Blitz they can check for their details online. “The electorate is advised to visit polling stations where they are registered to vote to inspect the voters` roll. Alternatively, voters can check their details on the USSD platform by dialling *265# or the online platform, bvrinspection.zec.org.zw. Once all the corrections have been taken on board, the Commission will then produce the final voters` roll that will be used for the purpose of conducting the delimitation exercise.
ZEC to embark on voters roll inspection ahead of delimitation
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he Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) will from Monday next week embark on a 10 day voter roll inspection ahead of the delimitation exercise. In a notice, ZEC chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba said the voters’ roll will be at specific polling stations urging members of the public to take a keen interest in the process by coming out in large numbers to inspect the voters’ roll. The inspection will run from 17 to 26 July 2022. “It is hereby notified for general information that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission shall lay open the delimitation voters` roll
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for inspection by the public in accordance with Section 21 of the Electoral Act [Chapter: 13] as read with section 10(2) of the Electoral (Voter Registration) Regulations Statutory Instrument 85 of 2017. The purpose of the inspection of the voters` roll is to allow members of the public to check if their names are appearing on the voters` roll and to check if their details are correctly captured and if not, to correct such anomalies. The voters` roll will be polling station specific and available for inspection at the election centres during the period 17 to 26 July 2022 from 07:00 hrs to 17:00 hrs,” said Justice Chigumba. She said the electorate must visit the polling station where they are registered to vote or alternatively
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Meanwhile, ZEC through Government Gazette, General Notice 1331E of 2022 and General Notice 1411C of 2022 published alterations made to the voters’ roll to correct errors contained. In response, the Elections Resource Centre (ERC) commended the electoral body for the move and called on ZEC to consider addressing other voting related issues that stakeholders have raised pending the 2023 general elections. “The ERC additionally takes this opportunity to note that the Commission is yet to avail to stakeholders the voters’ roll that closed on the 30 May 2022 as per General Notice 1147B of 2022 and calls on the Commission to avail the roll,” the statement reads. General Notices amongst others addressed errors which included addresses found stated as “Unnamed” and “Unknown” which could not be verified.
Electoral Information Blitz
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Electoral Information Blitz
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Electoral Information Blitz
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