Mosquito Menace in Bulawayo More Than A COVID-19 Problem

Mosquito menace is forcing residents to dig deep into their pockets to buy mosquito repellents. 

BY LIZWE SEBATHA | @The_CBNews | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | FEB 20, 2021

Council officials have not carried out disinfection exercises to the extent they would in previous years. While COVID-19 is a significant factor, they say residents are not fulfilling their end of the bargain.

BULAWAYO (The Citizen Bulletin) — The COVID-19 outbreak has piled more misery on Bulawayo residents who are enduring sleepless nights due to the irritating mosquito menace when city fathers admit failure to disinfect breeding sites citing operational constraints.

Typically, council rolls out anti-mosquito disinfection campaigns in the city which also entails cutting grass, perfecting breeding grounds for the insects known for nauseating buzzing sounds.

The irritating mosquito influx is now forcing some residents to dig deep into their pockets to buy mosquito repellents, some of which are costly.

A single roll of mosquito coil sells for 10rand, or 40bond while a mosquito repellant spray retails for anything in the upwards of ZWL$350bond at major supermarkets in the city.

“The reality of the matter is that mosquitos are now a public nuisance.”
Sikhululekile Moyo, Ward 17 councillor

“One cannot have a peaceful sleep these days with these mosquitos.”

The enduring rains have made the situation worse as seen in tall grass and flowing streams in residential areas, becoming perfect breeding grounds for the insects.

Mosquito breeding reaches a peak during the hot wet months, mainly from September to March.

“We are not seeing council teams cutting grass or embarking on anti-malaria spraying programs as they used to in the past,” complains ward seven resident Patrick Ndlovu adding “no wonder the mosquito menace.”

BCC cannot afford the chemicals needed for mosquito spraying to control malaria.

The 2020 COVID-19 lockdown measures which disrupted economic activities and livelihoods affected the council's financial capacity to roll out the fight against mosquitos, city officials argue.

“The skeletal teams that are supposed to carry out mosquito spraying programs are swamped in that they also have to be disinfecting some public sites for COVID-19, disinfect gravesites, mortuaries, quarantine centres and so forth,” Moyo, the Ward seven councillor says.

Ward 24 councillor Arnold Batirai adds: “We are working with a skeletal staff because of the lockdown. Under normal circumstances, we could have seen teams on the ground, cutting grass.”

Government departments and other private companies are also working with skeletal staff as a COVID-19 preventive measure, with the majority of employees continuing to work from home.

However, while residents complain, the council says they are part of the problem.

According to the council, the city is too broke to afford some chemicals needed in the anti-mosquito fight as residents are not paying bills.

“The major challenge is that the majority of residents are not working, the lockdown has affected the capacity of many to pay bills,” says Councilor Shadreck Sibanda.

According to the Bulawayo City Council (BCC), only 16 per cent of ratepayers fully paid their bills in 2020.

At present, the council is owed as much as ZWL$700 million in outstanding bill payments. Government departments also owe the local authority several millions of dollars in unpaid bills.

Sibanda adds: “This then affects us in that the council is left with no financial resources to pay the community groups employed to cut the grass, or to purchase required chemicals to destroy the breeding sites of the insects.”

According to a recent council health and housing education report, “the section had challenges on chemicals impacting mosquito control negatively.”

However, the report shows that the department in December continued with the clearing of streams; 2730 metres along Bulawayo Spruit, 2550 metres, Luveve SDA, 600 metres along Bulawayo Spruit and 600 metres along National Foods stream.

“Spotters continued with monitoring of streams, some moderate to heavy breeding of Culicidae (a sub-family of the insects) mosquitoes were found along the streams and treated,” the report reveals.

Streams named as having heavy mosquito breeding are Matsheumhlophe, Bulawayo Spruit, Luveve S.D.A, Woodlands and Hillside, Glengary, Mahatshula stream, Batch Street, Mkambo canal, New Lobengula, Luveve road, Emakhandeni stream.

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Bulawayo Deputy Mayor Mlandu Ncube says COVID-19 has made it difficult for the council to hire community groups to cut grass and carry out other mosquito control programs.

“Normally, we hire community groups through community leadership such as councillors, but the challenge now is that it is tough to gather those people due to COVID-19,” Ncube says.

“All departments were affected financially by COVID-19; we are struggling to provide some services.”

However, the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) has urged the council to look for alternative revenue streams instead of relying on ratepayers to fund service delivery operations.

“There is a need for the BCC to come up with alternative revenue sources urgently. There is a need to cut down on unnecessary expenditure and reduce overtime expenditures,” BPRA coordinator Emmanuel Ndlovu says.

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