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Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
WILL Bulawayo ever claim its former glory as one of the smartest cities in the Sadc region? It does not seem so.
Bulawayo’s central business district sanitary lanes have become a haven of litter with the local authority expressing concern over rampant dumping which has rendered its night garbage collection ineffective.
The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) last month introduced night refuse collection in a bid to restore the city to its former glory as one of the cleanest cities in southern Africa.
But since the start of the programme, the city’s streets have remained very dirty as if there is no garbage collection in the city.
Dumped litter that gives off an offensive stench and breeds flies has become synonymous with the streets of Bulawayo, especially in the areas surrounding the marketplaces.
The rainy season has worsened the situation.
Concerns have also been raised that littering in the city centre could lead to an outbreak of diseases.
This is mainly because most of the littering and garbage dumping is done in areas where vending is taking place.
During the course of the year, the council embarked on various campaigns to clean up the city including the week-long Big Spring-Cleaning programme, which for a moment led to the city’s streets being clean.
Last week, council identified various littering hotspots in the hope that beyond the campaign residents will adopt the anti-littering initiative.
The council further introduced night garbage collection but the city’s streets remain littered.
Responding to Chronicle questions, BCC corporate communications manager Mrs Nesisa Mpofu said while council is adhering to the night garbage collection programme, it is faced with increased littering.
“The City of Bulawayo has been adhering to the night garbage collections programme. We, however, have been facing a challenge of residents who are not taking out their refuse receptacles at night for a variety of reasons,” said Mrs Mpofu.
“We continue to engage and call upon the residents to do so. We are having challenges of increased illegal and rampant dumping in the City of Bulawayo. We also have people littering despite the availability of refuse receptacles in the vicinity.”
She said council is engaging community refuse truckers to assist in the cleaning of sanitary lanes.
The council has been using the community refuse truckers to collect garbage in western suburbs.
This has seen the local authority religiously collecting refuse in western suburbs.
Mrs Mpofu said council’s efforts are also hampered by the shortage of refuse collection vehicles/compactors.
She said worsening the situation is the widespread illegal vending in the city centre.
“The city also faces challenges of too many illegal informal traders who are now dotted throughout the city and are also littering willy-nilly,” she said.
The city’s health services director Dr Edwin Sibanda said the extensive littering in the city centre may also become mosquito breeding spaces.
He said the litter can also cause flash floods, especially during the rainy season.
“Some of the litter can even clog the city’s drainage system and cause unnecessary flooding even when the city receives less rain. There is a need for an attitude change in dealing with the issue of littering as littering is done by humans,” he said.
Registered informal traders have called on council to act on the illegal vendors operating within the city centre.
Bulawayo Upcoming Traders Association organising secretary-general Mr Vincent Donga said they work well with the council in terms of keeping the city clean.
“As registered traders, we clean our operating environment. The council is actually satisfied with our conduct but the concern is with the illegal vendors who are not following the city’s by-laws. They are the ones responsible for littering and dumping that is happening in the city centre,” said Mr Donga. — @nqotshili
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