STAFF WRITER
HALF of Matabeleland North people are practising open defecation and polluting the land, a latest report by government in partnership with several civic organisations has revealed.
“Matabeleland North has consistently had high proportions of households (over 50%) practicing open defecation,” reads the latest report of the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee, (ZimVAC).
“This picture of high open defecation in Matabeleland North has been consistently high and is worrisome. There is need for urgent action to reduce the proportion of households practicing open defecation”.
Open defecation entails the use of fields, forest, water bodies and open spaces as makeshift toilets to dispose faeces.
This leads to land pollution.
The reports states that Binga has 59.5% of open defecation and Tsholotsho 59.5%.
In Matabeleland South, Beitbridge had 59.3%.
Meanwhile, ZimVAC noted that the distance people travelled to water bodies nationally had increased.
“Nationally, there was an increase in the proportion of households travelling distances more than 1 km to the main water source from 16% in 2019 to 20% in 2020,” reads the report.
“The highest proportion of households travelling distances more than 1 km was in Matabeleland South (33%) and lowest in Manicaland (9%).”
Further, ZimVAC stated that the proportion of households without hand-washing facilities at their toilets was more than 80% in all districts in the country.
The proportion of households accessing water from improved sources is 77% it said.
ZimVAC is a grouping of various stakeholders to tackle food insecurity, nutrition, water and sanitation.
These include inter alia United Nations agencies, the government, civic organisations and the academia.
