Harare, Chitungwiza running on empty
SWATCHES of Harare and Chitungwiza are now littered with ever-growing mounds of uncollected garbage, while rising incidents of water shortages and burst sewer pipes are raising the spectre of outbreaks of waterborne diseases such as cholera and typhoid.
Despite hiking rates, local authorities in the two cities are failing to provide expected services.
While both Harare and Chitungwiza have grappled with water and sewer reticulation for years, the inability to attend to faults has worsened under the current leadership.
Illegal dumpsites have mushroomed in and around residential areas.
In some areas in Glen View, sewer is flowing into homes, while in Mabvuku raw sewer has had to be diverted into makeshift septic pools.
Despite water shortages, the two local authorities are failing to repair burst water pipes that are leaking treated water.
Residents who spoke to The Sunday Mail said they felt betrayed by councillors, who are crucial in running Local Government, as
they only seemed interested in lining their pockets at the expense of service delivery.
“Waste removal by council has been a major problem. We don’t even know the last time they removed garbage, as you can see every corner of the suburb is now a dumping site,” said Anastacia Mugunde from Glen View.
Edmund Pasi of Unit O in Chitungwiza said “no one seems concerned” about improving sanitation and hygiene in the dormitory town.
“The waste produces a pungent smell and when it rains it floods our houses and we are forced to move out. The health of our children is in danger because they play inside the filth.”
The problem of illegal dumpsites is pronounced in Chitungwiza, where companies are being accused of illegally offloading waste at night. There have been cases of injuries and fatalities in areas where substances such as toxic chemicals and hot ash would have been disposed. The Harare Residents’ Trust (HRT) director Mr Precious Shumba said councils were essentially levying ratepayers for non-existent services.
“The City of Harare is incapacitated, it does not have sufficient refuse collection vehicles to undertake a satisfactory refuse collection service that covers all the 46 wards,” he said.
“As of last week, they had only 14 refuse trucks out of the 47 refuse collection vehicles that they have.
“This means despite having the trucks, they are largely grounded due to technical faults. Some of the refuse compactors are long overdue for replacement, meaning they have exceeded their lifespan.”
The City of Harare says it is failing to collect refuse and clear dumpsites as it is operating with less than half of the trucks required to perform the task. Acting Mayor Stewart Mutizwa said council was operating with only 15 trucks out of the 30 required.
“We have made progress, but it’s slow because we do not have enough resources. We will need tippers, front-end loaders and fuel to complete the task,” he said.
“The desire is there but we just don’t have the money because our revenue inflows have been depleted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. A lot of residents have not been paying their bills as expected and that has also affected us.”
Chitungwiza Municipality public relations officer Mr Lovemore Meya blamed the challenge on insufficient resources.
“Indeed there has been an accumulation of illegal dumping sites around Chitungwiza but council is working on clearing them,” he said.
“On the issue of a local company involved in dumping their refuse and hot ashes at the Unit L dumping site, council has made a resolution to have the area fenced so that no individuals are found around that dumping site to avoid mishaps like in the past.”