HARARE, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Nine people have caught cholera in two poor townships in Zimbabwe's capital most likely from drinking contaminated water in shallow wells due to a breakdown in municipal services. More people have been forced to seek water from more dangerous sources as the southern African nation suffers from rocketing inflation, rising unemployment and poverty levels and shortages of foreign currency, fuel and food. In urban areas, where the crisis has been hardest felt, residents have gone for months without water, endured power cuts for weeks and contended with burst sewers, crumbling roads and municipal authorities failing to collect refuse. The official Herald newspaper reported on Tuesday that nine people from Tafara and Mabvuku townships were admitted to hospital after drinking contaminated water. The two townships have faced intermittent water shortages for years. "Basically we suspect that the cholera outbreak could be from the contaminated water the people in the area are drinking," Prosper Chonzi, Harare's acting director of health services, told the paper. "Most of them are drawing water from shallow wells, which are easily contaminated since they are going for weeks without water," added Chonzi. Chonzi was unavailable for further comment on Tuesday. Zimbabwe has suffered periodic outbreaks of cholera -- which can be transmitted through contaminated water or food.
