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By Joyce Mukucha
The residents of Harare have blamed the City Council for providing poor service delivery highlighting that expected critical needs such as refuse collection, adequate water, and sewer system management among others were not satisfying.
This was revealed during a press club discussion organised by the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) in Harare yesterday where various Harare Residents Trust (HRT) representatives of different suburbs bemoaned the situation which they said was becoming dire day by day amid a plethora of challenges.
Representing HRT for Chitungwiza St Mary’s, Taurai Matienga said there was a need for local authorities to improve the way they operate and ensure that residents’ queries are urgently attended to bring sanity in communities.
“We are not satisfied by the response from local authorities as they take 2 to 3 weeks to respond and take action to our problems as residents. For example, the sewerage system issue where pipes continue to burst and no action is being taken.
“The situation has become unbearable in St Mary’s where one of the houses (House number 711) sewer burst into the home and the family is forced to relocate. We are pleading with local authorities to try their best and address these challenges. We can’t continue to live with these situations and we can’t continue paying for the sewerage system which is not properly working. It is our plea that the City of Harare repairs all the pipes as well as removing the old ones to ensure that people are living in a clean environment,” he said.
Matienga also pointed out that residents in St Mary’s were struggling to access potable and clean water. The majority of residents are walking long distances to fetch water.
“Residents are going as far as Hunyani to do their laundry, bath, and fetch water. Many are being swept away by water and some losing their lives in the river. This is a sad situation which needs to be addressed urgently.”
Nolly Mudiwa, an HRT representative for Kuwadzana 1 to Extension said it was imperative for service providers to do their job wholeheartedly and learn to prioritize residents’ needs.
She said the situation in Kuwadzana was not welcoming and pointed out that Council was not operating well when it comes to refuse collection, sewerage system management, and water delivery, a situation causing a lot of diseases such as cholera and typhoid.
“Our communities are no longer healthy because of unhygienic conditions resulting from failure by City Council to collect refuse as well as failure to attend to burst sewer. We are living in fear of diseases such as malaria, cholera, typhoid among others. There is a need for the council to make concerted efforts in waste collection and disposal. Their bill is expensive yet they are not doing their job. It breaks our hearts as Kuwadzana residents to pay such a lot of money expecting to receive satisfying service delivery but unfortunately, we get the worst because there is no service at all,” said Mudiwa.
Representing Ward 41, Rutendo Madziva highlighted that residents in Malborough have resorted to dumping rubbish at the District Council offices as a way of communicating to Harare City Council to do something as they are tired of speaking about refuse collection every time.
She bemoaned the issue of double taxation indicating that some households were now paying private collectors who charge a lot of money to collect refuse.
“Residents in Ward 41 are tired of engaging the City of Harare to take the refuse collection issue in Malborough and other suburbs seriously. Imagine residents using their own money every week to make a phone call to remind Council about the refuse collection. Those who are tired of engaging the Council are now resorting to paying private waste collectors such as CleanCity and they charge US$10 per household which is terribly unfair because it’s like double tax as you are paying rates and at the same time paying private collectors,” she said.
She also pointed out the unavailability of water as a major challenge that is hugely affecting residents. Water, she emphasized, must not be rationed at all.
“Those citizens have the right to clean and safe water, but the City of Harare is failing to give residents adequate water. Water is being rationed in Malborough. It’s cut on a Friday and comes back on a Monday. Sadly, if you don’t call the City of Harare to open the meter for you, you can reach Wednesday with dry taps, and again when it comes, it will be dirty. So we are saying Council should do something to make sure that water is available for seven days and it should make sure that it is suitable for human consumption.”
Contacted for comment, Harare City Council Acting Corporate Communications Manager, Innocent Ruwende said Council is currently facing challenges and drawbacks with its current method and model of waste management.
He blamed the culture of people who throw rubbish anywhere without thinking about the consequences of their actions which as a result cause garbage dumps to continue accumulating in the city.
“The garbage, with rains received, is then washed into our water bodies and consequently poses treatment challenges. Residents believe that there are others who will clean up after them and consequently, the responsibility of cleaning up litter falls on the Council which does not have enough resources to deal with the litter problem. The city does not have enough refuse trucks to service the city efficiently using its current model,” Ruwende said.
He added that the City of Harare is owed ZWL $17 billion by residents, government, and businesses – a situation that is affecting service delivery. Ruwende highlighted that settlements patterns in the residential areas have also changed over the years with housing units now accommodating more than two families therefore more waste was being generated.
There are calls to change from linear to the efficient integrated solid waste management model. The procurement of a waste management fleet compatible with the integrated solid waste management system and setting up of waste transfer stations at an average central 5km radius in suburbs, for example, Glenview and Budiriro, are some of the recommendations.
Progressive companies were urged to adopt sustainable practices and all recycling companies were encouraged to come forward and partner council to manage recyclables including bio-degradable waste and waste separation at source.
“The City is also currently engaged in discussions with a foreign company with a view to coming up with a waste to energy project,” he added.