Budiriro residents bitter over poor service delivery
SCORES of disgruntled residents of Budiriro, Harare, yesterday demonstrated at the Harare City Council office in Budiriro I Shopping Centre in Ward 13 demanding an end to sub par refuse collection and the continual burning of rubbish near the suburb.
A foul stench from a burning disposal site close to the neighbourhood angered the demonstrators. Despite numerous calls to the councils’ offices and the Environmental Management Agency since last month, nothing has been done, with most of the residents wearing face masks to shield themselves from potentially toxic fumes.
Ms Esther Kwembeya, a resident and businessperson, said the amount of smoke in the area compelled her to relocate her mother and children to a safer area.
“My mother lives down the line less than 20 meters, and I had to make her move to my sister’s place because of the smoke we are inhaling in our houses and I also sent away my children,” she said. Despite much effort by residents in seeking help from the council, Ms Kwembeya said nothing has changed for the past month.“We went to the councillors and we also went to the district office last month but nothing came out of it and now for their unwavering support over the years,” said Mr Wonder Nyabereka, chairman of the board.
“We are committed to upholding Zimswitch’s role as the National Payment switch, remaining a steadfast and active participant in the economy. Our focus on modernisation and the promotion of digital payments adoption in the country is unwavering, and the brand refresh serves as a testament to this renewed dedication.”
Zimswitch chief executive officer Mr Zabron Chilakalaka said: “The new brand identity and the purpose, vision, mission, and values reflect our continued commitment to innovation and progress as a pioneer in the payments technology industry.
‘‘The evolution marks a fusion of our rich history with a forward-looking approach to meet the ever-evolving local and international financial ecosystem.”
He said Zimswitch’s primary objective was to solve the daily challenges consumers face when transacting as they are increasingly seeking for secure, instant, and seamless digital payment experience.
“The ZIPIT solution, which was introduced in 2011, has become a household name in the payments industry allowing customers to transact instantly across banks and mobile wallets promoting financial inclusion and bringing millions of mobile money subscribers to the mainstream financial services,” Mr Chilakalaka said.
The grand idea of establishing Zimswitch was pre-conceived through a vision of a progressive movement of eliminating unnecessary industry competition by fostering collaborations through payment infrastructure sharing in the financial ecosystem.
Founded on trust in 1994, Zimswitch was established through a nexus of minds between the partnering financial institutions Beverly Building Society (now merged into CBZ), Barclays Bank (now First Capital Bank), CABS, Founders Building Society (now ZB Bank), Stanbic and Zimbank (now ZB Bank). we do not have anywhere else to go to. We called our counsellor of Ward 33 and he said we were irritating him, so where can we cry to,” she said. Ms Kwembeya said most patrons who used to frequent her beerhall had stopped as a result of the smoke and fumes.
Additionally, many residents, and even council employees, were the ones dumping garbage and burning it at the dump site.