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Walter Nyamukondiwa Chinhoyi Bureau
A health disaster is looming at the informal Chikuti settlement where thousands of people are living without proper sanitation facilities.

People in the area, which falls on the border of Makonde and Hurungwe districts, use the bush system to relieve themselves and draw drinking water from nearby Angwa River.

There are now fears of a water-borne disease outbreak if proper hygienic conditions are not put in place urgently.

The community largely comprises small-scale gold miners who normally build temporary structures as they move from place to place.

“People here relieve themselves in nearby bushes and it is an eyesore to see human waste everywhere. We just hope that something is done to ameliorate the situation,” said Shepherd Mupukuta from an adjacent village.

People in the area have devised ways of clearing the waste by introducing pigs to manage human waste.

“The pigs that you see there are our local authority who provide municipal services by consuming human waste,” went on Mr Mupukuta.

The pigs are, however, later slaughtered for consumption by residents of the area.

Huge white pigs frequent the business centre where people gather after a hard day’s work around the mining pits strewn around the area.

The centre has proved to be a cash cow for people from adjacent villages who bring in their horticulture products for sale.

Others come from as far as Chinhoyi and Karoi to sell items such as clothes and electrical gadgets while others sell food.

The lure of gold and money has resulted in some vices such as prostitution involving girls as young as 12 years.

Hurungwe Rural District Council chief executive officer Mr Joram Moyo, while acknowledging the poor sanitary conditions, said the settlement is illegal.

“It is an illegal settlement that was once razed by authorities during the ‘Chikorokoza Chapera’ blitz but has since mushroomed. We have tried to provide a few toilets but they are not enough,” he said.