Zimbabwe authorities led by President Robert Mugabe have banned food vendors in the capital Harare following an outbreak of typhoid disease. 

According to Ceoafrica, the health minister David Parirenyatwa says two people including a 13-year-old girl died from the disease in December 2016 and many people have been infected.

Typhoid bacteria spread when food or water containing contaminated fecal matter is consumed.   

Authorities have set up a treatment camp to deal with the rising cases of the highly contagious disease in the capital, Harare. 

Health minister, David Parirenyatwa, says Harare accounts for three quarters of cases in the country.

A joint ministerial taskforce set up to prevent the spread of the disease has announced a prohibition on cooked and dry food vending.

The ban is already affecting hundreds of vendors who earn a living selling fruits and vegetables on streets.

Food vendors lodged complaints about the ban's impact on their businesses which goes thus:

“A ban is bad even though we acknowledge that the food is causing typhoid, but authorities should provide more hygienic places for us to sell from."

“There is no other option for us other than selling food. There are too many vendors selling non-food item. Money is hard to come by these days and we see selling as the only way to get it."

“A blanket ban is wrong. They should determine which foods typhoid thrive in and ban those."

The city is also mounting a campaign to get clear rubbish because typhoid is also caused by poor sanitation. 

Harare is facing a shortage of piped water, which is forcing some residents to draw water from unsafe sources.

The onset of the rainy season has only worsened the outbreak. The health minister says he fears an outbreak of cholera if measures are taken to stem the outbreak of diarrheal diseases.

In 2009 more than 4,000 people died and 100,000 were infected by a cholera outbreak in the country.