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By Daniel Chigunwe recently in Mbire

Villagers in Mbire have raised a red flag over the danger being posed by crocodiles in Angwa and Hunyani rivers following a migration of the reptiles from Lake Cabora Basa as a result of floods caused by tropical depression Ana.

Efforts by wildlife rangers to deal with the crocodiles are reportedly futile which has prompted local authorities to call for those in crocodile farming to come and harvest from Angwa river.

Speaking during a food aid donation to the flood victims in Mbire, ward 2 local councillor Chenjerai Chimukoro said several school going children are not attending classes as they cannot cross the river lurking with the crocodiles.

“We have a serious challenge that has developed as a result of the floods which is the issue to do with crocodiles in Angwa river, many of our villagers under Chief Chisunga here are fearing the danger of crossing the river as it is now infested by crocodiles that migrated from Cabora Basa.

“Some rangers who came here to try and kill some of the crocodiles did not succeed due to the high population of these crocodiles and we are even proposing that those who are in the business of farming these reptiles can come and harvest them maybe then we may have river being crossable, for now, children of school-going age are not even attending classes,” said the councillor Chimukoro.

Meanwhile, in Masoka village, authorities are bemoaning the outbreak of diarrhoea in schools with ward 11 councillor Ishmael Chaukura saying about 43 cases of diarrhoea in schools have been detected in January due to contamination of water bodies as a result of floods.

“We have a number of issues that have struck us here with water-borne diseases like diarrhoea being a serious threat to pupils in schools, the cases are on the rise since several water bodies have been contaminated with the flooding that took place recently.

“Among some of the measures we are taking to deal with this issue is distributing aqua tablets to schools so that the water is safe to drink, in December we also had about 95 cases of diarrhoea and they are still on the rise,” he said
Government through the Civil Protection Unit (CPU), council and churches are desperately working towards restoring normality in the flood-hit community.