Within some compound, a sewer blockage occurred, leading to sewage spillage near a production borehole. Workers fell ill. Water tanks got disinfected before inspection. Testing took weeks after cleanup. It happens; the boreholes are unlicensed. Tamanda Matebule tells of troubling oversight failures on the industrial and occupational space.
On April 2, 2025 cases of acute diarrhea began surfacing among workers at Olympic Bakery in Limbe. Within days, Limbe Health Centre — a short walking distance from the factory — started treating similar symptoms.
What initially appeared to be an isolated health incident soon became a more troubling development: a sewer blockage inside the bakery premises had allegedly caused raw sewage to spill near a borehole used for water consumption and bread production.
In March same-year, according to multiple accounts, a sewer line within the bakery blocked. Toilets could not flush, building pressure in the system until a manhole burst. The overflow reportedly spilled into a nearby borehole — one of two the bakery relies on for many operations.
Thus, when diarrhea cases emerged in early April, suspicion quickly focused on the contaminated water source.
Workers staged a boycott, halting production and grounding delivery vehicles. The workers union alleged that management had exposed them to contaminated water. One night, a company driver ferried several employees to hospital for treatment. Health passports reviewed during this investigation confirm that bakery workers were treated for diarrhea during this period.
The Blantyre District Health Office confirmed both the diarrhea cases and reports of sewage spillage at the premises. However, officials stopped short of directly linking the illnesses to contaminated water.
“Yes, we received reports and our inspectors went there,” said district health office spokesperson, Chrissie Banda, referring further questions to the environmental health officer who led the inspection.
However, the officer, Rex Tsamikuta, at Limbe Health Centre, declined to provide details.
For months, Olympic Bakerys management has not responded to a questionnaire. Human Resources Manager Saizi Bakali requested a questionnaire and proposed a meeting but could not address the submitted questions despite repeated follow-ups via phone, email and WhatsApp.
Efforts to scrutinize the incident also encountered unusual resistance. On one hand; Tsamikuta declined to provide details in spite of his bosses guiding as such. On the other, a ward councillor suggested the investigation be “discussed in a boardroom” with bakery managers.
He offered to facilitate this meeting to have the story killed.
Meanwhile, senior city officials confirmed critical aspects of the incident. Mayor of Blantyre, at the time, Joseph Makwinja, acknowledged sewage spills were observed during a site inspection.
“Yes, there were sewer spills. We went there to appreciate what technicians at the council had reported,” Makwinja said. He added that the bakery had been operating with an uncovered septic tank, which management attributed to stolen covers. City officials, he said, instructed the company to construct a concrete cover.
Inspection timelines, however, raise further questions.
On April 4, four days after diarrhea cases were first registered, water tanks at the bakery were reportedly drained and cleaned with chlorine. Boreholes were also flushed.
A source privy to the incident said: “The first team of inspectors came weeks later. By that time, the tanks had already been drained and cleaned with chlorine for about three hours, so the inspection results could not have been positive.”
Water quality analyses conducted between April 16 and April 29 by the Malawi Bureau of Standards and Blantyre City Council later cleared the bakery. But the testing occurred weeks after the tanks were disinfected and the boreholes drained.
The timing complicates efforts to conclusively determine whether contaminated water entered the bread production process.
Inspectors examined production areas, housekeeping conditions, water storage platforms, milling structures and borehole sources. During this period, management also uprooted a wheat mill that had been installed behind the bakery, a placement the mayor described as “unhygienic.”
Even if direct causation between the sewage spill and illness remains unproven, regulatory breaches uncovered during this investigation are less ambiguous.
Authorities confirmed that Olympic Bakerys boreholes were not licensed, contrary to requirements under the Water Works Act and the Water Resources Act.
In a written response, Dwight Kanduku, chief executive officer of the National Water Resources Authority, stated that the bakery does not hold a borehole license. “The Bakers Pride do not have license with NWRA at present,” he wrote.
Blantyre Water Board spokesperson Evelyn Khonje similarly said it is unacceptable to drill boreholes within the boards supply area without authorization.
“Blantyre Water Board is mandated under the Water Works Act 1995 to supply water to the city of Blantyre and surrounding areas. The bakery drilled boreholes, and it is not acceptable to drill boreholes within the supply area without license,” she said.
Blantyre City Councils director of health and social services, Samden Seunda, confirmed that Olympic Bakery sunk two boreholes used in bread and confectionery production and was “formally notified to ensure certification of their boreholes by the National Water Resources Authority.”
Beyond water licensing, labour authorities identified occupational safety gaps. For instance, the ministry of labour found that the bakery wanting for operating without a designated occupational safety and health officer, contrary to provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
Shadreck Lunduka, principal industrial hygienist at the ministry, described the absence as irregular considering the welfare of workers. “This is unacceptable, but such revelations provide an opportunity to sanitise the industrial space,” he said.
Together, these findings point to broader regulatory weaknesses.
A sewer blockage leading to sewage spillage near a production borehole. Workers falling ill. Water tanks disinfected before inspection. Testing conducted weeks after cleanup. Unlicensed boreholes in active use. No occupational safety officer in place.
Whether contaminated water definitively entered the bread supply may never be established. Whats documented, though, is a pattern of delayed oversight and regulatory non-compliance within the industrial and occupational space.
In a sector where public health depends on strict enforcement of water safety and occupational standards, the Olympic Bakery episode underscores and raises a broader and critical policy question: are regulatory systems equipped to detect and respond to industrial safety risks before, rather than after, illness emerges?