‘As it was in the days of Noah’

Tendai Chara – Extra Reporter

In the biblical narrative, Noah warned the people of coming floods and told them to repent.

Instead of believing Noah and repenting, the people laughed at him. Regardless of their unity in opposition, the flood still came and destroyed them all.

As it was in the days on Noah, the Gokwe Town Council has for many years been ignoring the warnings of the Environmental Management Authority.

EMA has told the local authority to reclaim gullies that have been developing all over the town since 1985.

Now it is almost certain that the gullies – which are approaching the town from five directions – will divide this urban settlement.

The biggest gully has already destroyed the main road linking the town to the District Administrator’s office, a major hospital, two residential areas, the regional magistrates’ court, a Zimbabwe Republic Police camp and several other buildings.

The gullies developed from small run-off tracks, growing and devouring land as they inched closer to the town.

Although it is clear that the council has failed to tackle issues to do with the town’s drainage system and that it has repeatedly ignored environmental procedures — factors that contributed to the development of the gullies – local authorities still maintain that their hands are clean.

Mr Alexander Nyandoro, the town’s senior administration officer, elected to blame the nature of the soil for the situation.

“Gokwe Town is situated on a plateau made up of Kalahari sands, which are loose and prone to attack by gulley erosion. The situation is at times worsened by heavy rains which result in gullies developing all over the town,” Mr Nyandoro said.

On the other hand, EMA maintains that the council should take full responsibility.

Mr Lewis Mazwi, the Gokwe South district environmental officer, said local authorities have a long record of disregarding laid-down rules. The council has, on several occasions, failed to produce environment assessment reports, ignoring both verbal and written warnings to comply.

The council allocated land in areas that were ruled inhabitable by EMA, further contributing to land degradation. For instance, the council allocated land in Green Valley suburb against EMA recommendations.

EMA is itself something of a toothless bulldog, seeing as it has not power to prosecute those who break the law and can only issue out relatively small fines.

The Gokwe South Rural District Council, which controlled Gokwe before town status was approved, also stands accused of failing to maintain a perimeter fence barring residents from using the run-off tracks that eventually developed into gullies.

Now the damage to houses and roads is apparent. But still EMA is ignored.

Mrs Rosemary Chingwe, the Gokwe South District Administrator, is ironically one of many victims of the advancing gullies. The official residence that she occupies has developed huge cracks and sewage flows everywhere.

“Something must be done. This house, as you can see, might collapse anytime. The town council is sitting on a time bomb,” Mrs Chingwe laments.

After watching the biggest gully develop from a mere run-off track into a serious threat to the town’s existence, Mr Nyandoro considers this a “national problem which needs a national solution”.

“Complete rehabilitation of the gully needs around US$500 000. This is definitely beyond our means considering that our budget is US$3,4 million. This is a national problem which needs a national solution.

“It needs everyone’s hand – central government, donor community and all stakeholders,” Mr Nyandoro adds.

The council has now set aside US$50 000 for reclamation of smaller gullies. Mr Nyandoro says they have also embarked on a robust programme for resuscitation of the town’s drainage system. Observers feel this is a case of too little too late.

“This reclamation exercise will be an expensive one. The onus is on the council to source for funds from wherever they will get them. There is need for a multi-sectoral approach to the problem since engineers and funds are needed to correct the anomaly,” Mr Mazwi says.

EMA insists that the town council must introduce sustainable conservation measures as a long-term solution to the problem. Gokwe Town Council was established through Statutory Instrument 170 of 2006 and is a product of the Gokwe South Rural District Council.

As of now, Gokwe is the only growth point that was directly given town status without first attaining town board status.

For all other towns, they were started as growth points, then got town boards and then became town councils. Economic growth was quite remarkable, for a while, in Gokwe. Spurred by the cotton farms surrounding the area, the town experienced a boom of sorts in the 1990s and at the turn of the millennium.

King Cotton is ailing, though, and the money is not flowing like it used to a short while back. According to the 2012 National Population Census, Gokwe’s population then stood at 24 136. The town has 6 395 households and 1 100 people are on the town’s housing waiting list.