Sixty-year-old Emma Zhakata winces, struggling to hold back tears as she relates how her husband, one of 32 cholera victims in Zimbabwe, died within hours of falling ill.
She never suspected her 69-year-old husband, Wonder Zhakata, would die suddenly after complaining that he felt weak and was suffering stomach pain.After she rushed her husband to a clinic, he was led to a tent to wait for treatment among patients suffering from cholera. She never saw him alive.
“That was the last time we were allowed to see him… When we called to ask after his condition, we were informed that he died of cholera,” she told AFP at her home in a suburb of Harare.
“It’s so scary that anyone of us can be walking now and the next moment, they are dead.”
In just two weeks, the cholera outbreak gripping Zimbabwe has claimed at least 32 lives and more than 7,000 cases have been reported. The government has declared a public health emergency in the capital Harare, the worst affected area.
After her husband’s death, Emma Zhakata’s family had to pay officials $515 (440 euros) for him to be buried safely without the risk of infecting others. Read more