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Innocent Ruwende Senior Reporter
A decomposing body of a man was found floating in a Harare City Council valve chamber in Sunningdale, raising fear among residents of the suburbs, which get its water from Letombo reservoirs that they could have consumed contaminated water, especially in the wake of the cholera outbreak.

The city was, however, quick to point out that there was no way that any contamination could have taken place in the valve chamber, which measures five-by- three metres.

The city’s corporate communications manager Mr Michael Chideme said: “A body of an adult was found in the sewer chambers. Children playing close to the chambers discovered the body and alerted their elders who then made a police report, resulting in a joint operation between police and council to retrieve the body.

“Investigations to establish what happened are underway. The body was not in contact with piped water.”

Some of the areas which are supplied by Letombo reservoirs include Greendale, Msasa Park, Mabvuku, Zimre Park, Epworth and Donnybrook among others.

Ward 10 councillor (Sunningdale), Hammy Madzingira said the decomposing body was discovered on Tuesday, but was retrieved on Wednesday.

“Detectives from CID Homicide were alerted and since it was already in the evening, they instructed that the body be retrieved the following day so that they could study the scene. The following day the body was retrieved by a council excavator.”

Clr Madzingira also emphasised that the body was not in council water because the high pressure pumps could have pushed it further to the Letombo reservoir.

Meanwhile, the city’s acting health director Dr Clemence Duri said cases of suspected cholera continued to decline in Harare following massive interventions put in place by the city, Government and their partners.

Dr Duri said by end of day yesterday, the number of deaths remained at 38.

“Cases are also going down. Yesterday, 24 people were seen at Glen View cholera treatment camp, 77 in Budiriro and 67 at Beatrice Road Infectious Disease Hospital. These figures are much lower than we used to see in recent days,” said Dr Duri.

The national death toll stands at 49.

As of yesterday, a total of 9 831 cases had been recorded since the first case of cholera was confirmed on September 6.

Glen View and Budiriro remain the epicentre.