By Sithandweyinkosi Mpofu
Kwekwe City Council together with the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) and other social welfare departments launched a blitz today to round up mentally ill individuals in Kwekwe Central Business District for the safety of the general public.
The decision came after a distressing incident last week, where a 23-year-old man was struck on the head to death by a mentally ill person. The city has in recent times become a home to mentally ill patients and street kids who terrorise the public.
Kwekwe City Council Director of Housing and Health Services Edson Chiyangwa said with a noticeable rise in the number of mentally ill individuals in Kwekwe City, they deemed it necessary to take immediate action.
Chiyangwa said they managed to round up 15 mentally ill individuals.
“We have removed about 15 from the town center and we have taken them to Kwekwe General Hospital where they will be stabilized,” said Chiyangwa.
He also added that after being stabilized, they will be further transferred or transported to Gweru where they will be put in a mental home.
“Following the fact that the numbers are too many, Kwekwe would not manage to handle such, and as a result, we will be transporting them to Gweru.
We thought we could co-habit but it seems impossible,” said Chiyangwa.
Chiyangwa said recently they also carried the same blitz on street kids with most of them being rehabilitated.
“We also have a challenge with street kids but we had an operation two weeks ago where we were removing them from the streets and taking them to homes for street kids. The streets were clean for about a week but we have three who have returned, they ran away from a home in Gweru where we had taken them,” said Chiyangwa.
The community has expressed relief that measures are being taken to address this pressing issue.
“Increased efforts to raise mental health awareness and establish dedicated care facilities are needed, we can not have a repeat of what happened last week whereby a person loses his life just like that,” said one resident Emilia Moyo.
One thought on “Kwekwe embarks on blitz to rid streets of mentally ill people”
Its sad that someone had to die first before this initiative was taken, however I salute what the authorities have done and hope it will be a norm rather than a once off thing