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Bulawayo residents yesterday woke up to very disturbing news that the city council has suspended indefinitely refuse collection mostly in the low density suburbs. The city’s Town Clerk, Mr Middleton Nyoni who made the announcement did not give reasons for the suspension of this essential service.
Mr Nyoni said the move will affect mostly the low density suburbs and some parts of the high density suburbs. The announcement follows reports that the council has not collected garbage in the low density areas for the past three weeks. Mr Nyoni said the affected residents should keep uncollected garbage within their yards as opposed to dumping it.
“Residents are encouraged to keep the city clean and desist from dumping refuse in open spaces. Uncollected refuse should be kept within household properties and will be collected when refuse collection resumes,” said Mr Nyoni.
The council was collecting refuse from eastern suburbs at least once a week and residents expected the local authority to improve the service to at least twice a week. The decision to indefinitely suspend the service therefore came as a shock to residents who are already struggling to keep the uncollected garbage for a week. Mr Nyoni has not helped the situation by not giving the reasons for the suspension of the service and failing to say when the service is likely to resume.
According to a council official, the contract of a private operator that was collecting refuse in the affected suburbs has since expired hence the suspension of the service. Council is reportedly working on reviewing the contract. What is disturbing is that council has decided to take this drastic move when the onset of the rains is just a few weeks away.
The suspension of refuse collection exposes residents to risks of contracting waterborne diseases such as cholera. In 2008 more than 4 000 people died of cholera nationwide and the cause of the outbreak was poor sanitation. Nobody would want a repeat of the 2008 disaster which overwhelmed the Government forcing it to declare the outbreak a national disaster.
A number of international organisations had to move in to assist in treating the affected people as well as help councils to improve water supplies and sanitation facilities. What council should appreciate is that one of the major causes of a cholera outbreak is failure to collect refuse which compromises the city’s general hygiene. How does council expect households to maintain hygiene with heaps of garbage in their yards?
Mr Nyoni said residents should not dump the garbage in open spaces but should keep it in their yards so under this arrangement homesteads will be turned into refuse dumps which is a recipe for disaster. Apart from exposing residents to the risks of contracting waterborne diseases, there is danger of a malaria outbreak in the city as the heaps of garbage can become breeding places for mosquitoes.
It is against this background that we want to implore the city fathers to act swiftly to address the problem of refuse collection. The city cannot afford to suspend such an essential service moreso with the start of the rainy season just around the corner. The council should prioritise refuse collection which has a direct bearing on the residents’ lives.
An outbreak of cholera is not just an enormous cost to council and even central Government but could result in the loss of many lives. Refuse collection is one of the core functions of any local authority and therefore any council which fails to collect refuse would have failed to execute its mandate. We want to once gain urge the Bulawayo City Council to stop gambling with the people’s lives and resume refuse collection as soon as possible.
Online Reporter