Council must protect wetlands

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This is the dilemma of voting into office councillors who cannot comprehend critical issues. Wetlands are normally natural sucker points that drain all the excess water before it slowly disappears.
They quickly drain water from the streets and from residential areas and contain it but the rains that hit Harare last week have proved the need to rethink and re-plan and save the remaining ones form ongoing environmentally unfriendly construction work.
This is the time for the city council to decide which laws to use in protecting wetlands, rather than allow the construction of houses and other infrastructure on wetlands. The question is, with the massive destruction of wetlands, where will all this water drain to? Is this not the water we are now seeing flooding the streets of Harare and what is the future of the city?
It is fact, not fiction that Harare’s wetlands are teetering on the edge of a cliff and it only takes the slightest push to send them off into extinction. It baffles the mind to note that Harare City Council has proved to be that “slightest push.” The councillors simply dismiss the ecological importance of wetlands as irrelevant. This view is spreading like veldfire in Harare and several towns dotted across the country and if not checked it is bound to reach toxic levels. I was disturbed when I came across a story published in The Sunday Mail of 18-24, 2011 titled “Construction of Makandiwa’s church faces new hurdles.”
Of interest is the passage which reads: “Council was ordered to produce a local environmental plan before the expiry of the ultimatum. The town has been operating without such a plan for the past two years.”
This means those two years had lapsed while there was unchecked assault on wetlands for what is dubbed “development activities.” This, however, has led the right thinking members of society to fear that sooner or later wetlands will disappear.
Some amongst us are pushed by a thoughtless devotion to money, hence willing to destroy our beautiful wetlands. Only God knows what will happen to species like birds, fish and insects that depend on these wetlands for survival. What is obvious is the fact that all this will result in the destabilisation of the ecosystem and bring birth to all problems associated with climate change. Global warming will reign amongst us and the once beautiful country will lose its human caring nature.
The capital city is fast becoming an arid region and if stringent measures to redress the situation are not tabled residents will have a glimpse of the ugly face of the devil. Wetlands have suffered enough in the hands of human kind. Surprised? Let me give a brief history that authenticates my opinion. Harare used to have heaps of garbage accumulating everywhere as refuse was not collected due to economic challenges that were facing the country during the period 2007 to 2008. The City Council engaged on a road called “clean up campaign.” They trailed on this road until they found a solution.
Did I say solution? No, because there are many problems that are by-products of the “solution” that was implemented. Uncollected garbage was accumulating on the streets and council started working round the clock to redress the situation. Residents welcomed this move as the environment was retaining its human caring state. Front end loaders and tipper trucks trampled the earth and refuse failed to resist this assault and it disappeared. Where to?
Waste was collected from the streets and dumped on wetlands. Dangerous materials like plastics find their final resting place on essential ecological features.
These are the primary habitats for many species and sources of clean water that must be used for domestic purposes. Wetlands are there to maintain checks and balances on ground water, but council found it fit to dump toxic materials on them. At the close of the year 2011 there were reports that the water table had gone further down and no one gathered enough courage to cite the council as the major culprit.
They successfully banned some companies who were taping underground water for bottling purposes.
Little did they know that once wetlands disappeared sources of water like rivers and dams will dry and people will survive on bottled water.
Many countries in the world are in this situation and Zimbabwe will soon be on top of the list. As if the damage caused was not enough the council unprocedurally allocated stands on these wetlands.
Several wetlands dotted around Harare and Chitungwiza have been isolated for construction purposes although council by-laws were specifically designed to prevent such destructive activities.
The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) did a noble thing when it fined Chitungwiza Town Council for allocating residential stands on wetlands.
EMA really needs to be very aggressive as it is some miles behind in terms of protecting wetlands. The area near National Sports Stadium is under construction yet everyone is paying lip service to it. Society is collectively guilt and their silence on environmental issues can be attributed to ignorance.