Council, residents’ trust clash

THE MDC-run Harare City Council has clashed with the Harare Residents Trust which is urging residents to dump garbage at their nearest district office in protest over the city’s failure to collect refuse.

The city feels the decision by the residents association is a publicity stunt arguing that “all genuine residents” understood the predicament faced by council.

The trust told residents, through various social media platforms, to dump their uncollected garbage in order to force council to take action.

“If the City of Harare is not collecting your garbage in your community, please organise and mass mobilise as your community. Find a vehicle to load your rubbish and dump it at your nearest district office so that the council takes the refuse from one central point,” said HRT.

“If the garbage is at their district office, they will immediately make a plan to clear the garbage and properly dispose of it. If they fail to collect for at most three weeks, do not negotiate until you have dumped their garbage at their local district offices.”

HRT said residents are peaceful, want order, and protesting by dumping uncollected garbage is their way of expressing their disgruntlement.

However, the city’s Environment Management Committee chairperson Councillor Herbert Gomba said the city was trying its best despite calls by organisations like HRT that were urging residents to boycott paying their rates.

“We are trying our best but unless HRT stops asking for services soon after telling residents to stop paying and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe avails the remaining forex for the refuse compactors stuck in South Africa, then the situation will remain untenable,” he said.