A Chipinge Town Council Environmental Health Officer (EHO)
has been suspended for warning residents on a WhatssApp group of six serious
potential cases of Corona Virus that the local authority is dealing with.
The Mirror is reliably informed that Shungu Masuku was
suspended on Wednesday after she told residents to take Covid 19 seriously
because there were cases of people who had entered Chipinge from South Africa
and they had serious symptoms of Covid 19.
It is understood that the results of the six samples sent
to Harare for tests are not yet known.
Masuku referred questions to her superiors at the local
authority when asked for a comment.
Both the local authority secretary, Susan Dube and chairman
Zivanai Nyakuchena professed ignorance over the matter. The Mirror however understands that Masuku was suspended
for divulging information that she had no authority to speak on.
Sources said, it is her defence that she sent out the
statement because she ‘genuinely’ wanted to warn people to hid Government’s
call to stay at home and to adhere to regulations to do with the pandemic.
The Mirror has seen the statement that Masuku sent on the
group below.
"In Chipinge we are doing six contact cases whose
names and addresses were given from our entry points. One is in Medium, one in
Gaza and four in low density. Saka lets be on the alert people. Tinogona kunge
tinayo Covid 19 muno muChipinge (We may serious have Covid 19 here in
Chipinge). Vanhu stay at home ndapota. Dutu parinozopera vamwe vedu vanogona
kushaikwa nekusateerera (Please stay at home. We may lose many people here
because of this pandemic. Please take hid, don’t lose your life by failing to listen
to this message). From EHO Chipinge Town Council."
"This health officer clearly wanted to help her fellow
countrymen and then overlooked the bounds of her work. She must have been moved
by the level of complacency among residents over the pandemic and therefore
wanted to give them real examples to prickle their conscience. The statement is
powerful in a situation where very little information on patterns and
distribution of the pandemic is available," said a source. Masvingo Mirror
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