Spread This NewsBy Darlington GatsiLocal Government Minister Daniel Garwe has insisted that the Civil Protection Department responded “well and swiftly” to the Seke Road accident that claimed 17 lives, despite criticism over the slow emergency response.Seventeen people died when a haulage truck veered off the road, swerving into the opposite lane and colliding with an oncoming minibus along Seke Road last week.The accident exposed the government’s weak emergency response mechanisms, with eyewitnesses reporting that many victims died on the accident scene due to the absence of a rescue crane.Responding to questions in the National Assembly recently, Minister of Local Government and Public Works, Daniel Garwe, defended the government’s handling of the tragedy.“The issue of responsiveness in terms of time taken is subject to the time that the accident is reported to the responsible authority, in this case, the Civil Protection Department.“We cannot say the Ministry failed to respond timeously. It depends on the time when the incident was reported. I will have to find out the time that was taken to receive the response and the time we went to the site,” said Garwe.He added: “The issue of having cranes on site also depends on how the accident was reported.
Maybe people just reported that there was an accident along the Chitungwiza Road at a river bridge without giving the intimate details of how the accident was reported.“So, we cannot answer that in that regard, it is very difficult, but from the Civil Protection Department side, the Government is doing extremely well. We responded swiftly.”Following the horrific crash, the government faced criticism from observers and opposition figures, including Nelson Chamisa, over its lack of preparedness for emergencies.However, Garwe shifted blame onto the Chitungwiza Municipality, accusing it of a delayed response despite being equipped to handle such situations.“At the Chitungwiza Road accident, the Department of Civil Protection was there first before everybody else and the fire tenders which came from Harare, were also activated by that department.“Madam Speaker, you may want to know that the Government has capacitated all 92 local authorities with firefighting equipment to use in situations such as what happened last week on Friday in Chitungwiza, where a road traffic accident cost the lives of 17 of our citizens.“All local authorities in the urban areas were equipped with at least two fire tenders each and we wanted to sit down and ask the local authority responsible in Chitungwiza why its reaction was so slow and to ask the city council to come and assist,” he said.
Originally published on New Zimbabwe
Source: Newzimbabwe
