Shebeen Patrons Feed On Garbage?

PATRICIA MAGANU
Staff Writer | Monday June 15, 2009 00:00

Patrons at these drinking holes are said to be eating food prepared from leftovers picked from refuse dumps. The scavenged foodstuffs range from canned products to perishables such as meat. Sources say that people come from as far away as Monarch to buy the food prepared from stuff retrieved from the landfill. 'Some of the stuff is clearly rotten or spoiled but they wash it and sell it,' she added. A woman who lives near a shebeen has expressed her disgusts at the practice. 'These people (shebeen owners) like all others are not scavenging the foodstuffs for their own consumption but to sell it to unsuspecting individuals. We know that some people forage for food from the dumping sites but it is for their own consumption,' she said.

Francistown City Council (FCC) public health specialist Dr. Paul Nashara said that though they are not aware of the situation, measures to educate people against scavenging for food in refuse dumps had to be taken immediately. 

'It is very dangerous. First of all, this stuff is there because it is condemned. Public education has to be reinforced immediately,' he said.

The shocked Nashara said that people should be immediately made aware of the health hazard of going into a landfill. He is alarmed by the fact that community leaders do not know about the dangers. A visit to one of the yards where food from the dumps is supposedly sold did not reveal much because the owners were not willing to talk.

They even denied selling Chibuku though there was a board at the gate stating that that is their trade. One of the owners said that the big pots near a cooking area were for boiling water.