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THE country’s second largest city, Bulawayo, was once dubbed the cleanest city in Southern Africa.
However, that tag has since vanished of late with the city now sitting on a health time bomb with blocked toilets and burst pipes spewing raw sewage especially in old suburbs such as Makokoba, Mabutweni, Old Magwegwe and Iminyela.
In those mentioned suburbs the air is filled with stench, making it difficult for residents to live a healthy life. In fact, the stench coming from the burst sewer pipes is now second nature to the residents of the affected suburbs.
In our yesterday’s edition we reported that Makokoba suburb is now sitting on a health time bomb with blocked toilets and burst sewers now common.
The residents said they have been subjected to flowing raw sewage for a long time.
What we found touching was that the residents said they have grown tired of reporting the problem to the Bulawayo City Council as it often recurred at the same places hours after being attended to.
“Since the establishment of the call centre by council last year, the response time has improved. The council team normally takes about one hour to respond to burst reports, compared to one month that they used to take. However, the same manholes would be overflowing hours after being fixed. Maybe these people do not know what they are doing,” said a resident, Mary Moyo.
Other residents said they have learnt to live with the filth that is all over the suburb, adding that only visitors were worried about the state of affairs at the city’s oldest suburb. According to the report, it is common to find children playing in the dirty water.
So with all this happening what is the Bulawayo City Council doing to sort out this mess? We are also worried about the silence of the city’s residents associations as it is their duty to hold the council accountable.
We believe the residents of Makokoba should be given the same treatment enjoyed by those in Hillside as they are no lesser beings.
The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) should also hold the council accountable for abdicating its duty of repairing those sewer pipes and should not hesitate to take it to court.
We therefore call on the Bulawayo City Council to spare a thought for the people of Makokoba and move with speed in finding a lasting solution to the problem.
However, we are not surprised with the performance of the council in dealing with such issues of service delivery considering the calibre of councillors we have.
The Bulawayo City Council, which was the envy of many local authorities in the country and the region, has lost its touch ever since the coming in of MDC-T councillors.
Ever since the MDC-T took over the running of the council, not much has been realised in terms of development.
In fact, the Bulawayo City Council is now a local authority in turmoil as it is failing to carry out its mandate of delivering service.
Besides the issue of the sewer pipes, the city’s roads are littered with potholes, now referred humorously by some as drumholes.
It is time now for the local authority to act lest there is a serious outbreak of diseases. They say cleanliness is next to God.
Online Reporter