adminTrust Freddy
Herald Correspondent
It is a few minutes before midday and Glen View area 8 complex, a home to thousands of informal traders, is a hive of activity as touts and traders of various wares go about their business.
Informal traders carve out furniture like wardrobes, lounge suites, chairs and beds.
Truck loaders, cart pushers, travellers and those selling different wares to make a living traverse the complex daily and sometimes late into the night, trying to eke out a living.
Hordes of clients move around looking for the best furniture.
But something tarnishing the image of this industrial area, which has been neglected by the CCC-led Harare City Council in terms of provision of ablution facilities.
In fact, it appears the city has completely forgotten about this thriving place, yet its hygiene is a huge factor to the city, considering the high number of people who frequent it.
The city’s health department cannot claim efficiency in its work when it is not doing anything to ensure hygienic standards at such a place are improved.
An occasional putrid smell wafts from the complex’s old toilets and green buzzing flies make frequent visits from the toilets.
Shockingly some vendors are operating just opposite the toilets.
With the CCC-run Harare City Council having brought service delivery rattling to its knees, congestion, unkempt streets, illegal commuter terminus and street display are the order of the day, certainly this is a recipe for disaster.
There is only one functional toilet at Glen View 8 complex against a sizeable population.
Most of the time the toilets at the area are either out of order or have no running water. And just behind the complex’s precast wall, there is an open space which is being used by people seeking to relieve themselves because they cannot do so inside the complex.
Both men and women take turns to use the same stretch of land to relieve themselves.
One of the traders at Glen View 8 Complex, Mr Tatenda Alim, who manufactures lounge suites and beds, said the appalling negligence by the city fathers was worrisome.
“While we applaud Government for regularising this place, we are unhappy about the city council’s incompetency,” he said. “The council is not providing proper ablution facilities. We do not have functional toilets, but we have been paying our monthly bills.”
The stench emanating from the alleyway is nauseating.
Mrs Nyasha Nyikadzino, a vendor, said as women they had lost their dignity being forced to relieve themselves in the open.
“Sometimes we can see people peeping through durawall openings when we are relieving ourselves,” she said. “It is dehumanising and a clear violation of our dignity.
“Those with relatives who stay near the complex are at an advantage as they have access to clean toilets. However, many prefer the open spaces as the next alternative in the absence of proper toilets at the complex.”
Mrs Nyikadzino said they had devised a strategy whereby women go to the open space in a group and have a child ready to alert any men who might want to use the place at the same time.
Glen View Area 8 steering committee chairperson Claudius Mutongwizo said the toilets were overwhelmed and lack of funds have exacerbated an already dire situation.
“Our toilets are always open, but there are too many informal traders so the system is failing to cope,” he said. “We do not have money to construct new toilets and refurbish old ones.”
A female worker who requested anonymity said both men and women were sharing one toilet.
“Both men and women take turns to use this toilet,” she said. “We use buckets to flash the toilet. Every morning I have to fill up these drums with water for that purpose. But many prefer open spaces to avoid waiting and because we charge 50 cents for our services.”
Glen View ward 30 councillor Charles Chidagu said there was a lot of extortion going on at the complex.
“We have a lot of space barons and a lot of extortion which is going on,” he said. “Traders are operating without paying anything to the council.”
The traders have spread from the complex into surrounding houses and a home owner who preferred to be named Mai Taku said residents were being exposed to potential health hazards.
“We are sitting on a health time bomb; our gardens have been turned into toilets,” she said. “It is unfortunate that some are still growing their vegetables and selling in that very same field where people relieve themselves.”
According to the World Health Organisation open defecation creates breeding ground for diseases like diarrhoea and cholera.
When human waste collects into heaps, it attracts flies and other insects, which then fly around the surrounding area, carrying bacteria and diseases, causing microbes, which they may deposit on food or drinks.
In 2018, Glen View experienced a cholera outbreak which affected about 9 100 residents.
In 2008, the country experienced its worst cholera outbreak which claimed more than 4 000 people, with Glen View and Budiriro being the epicentres of the mediaeval disease.
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