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Gweru is one of the cities and towns that have witnessed phenomenal growth since independence. New suburbs have been built in this Midlands capital known as the City of Progress. The city’s largest suburb is Mkoba which has villages One up to 20. There are several residential areas at different stages of development in both the high and low density areas.
What is, however, disturbing is that the Gweru City fathers seem not to be planning ahead to enable the local authority to continue to adequately service the expanding population. It is because of this lack of forward planning that the council finds itself in a crisis with new suburbs such as Mkoba Villages 15, 18 and 19 subjected to erratic water supplies.
Some of these suburbs go for weeks without water and the situation is deteriorating by each passing day. The council which is supposed to be operating with at least six pumps is operating with three or less and all this is because council did not plan for the increased population.
It defeats all logic for the council to expect to use the same infrastructure it had before independence to service its expanded population which, as already stated, has seen the sprouting of new suburbs during the past 32 years.
The council’s shortcomings are already being exposed as many suburbs are going without water for several weeks thereby exposing residents to risks of contracting waterborne diseases such as cholera. The Monday veld fire which burnt 21 vehicles at a garage in the city’s industrial area exposed yet another shortcoming.
How on earth can a city as big as Gweru operate without a single fire tender? According to the council’s chief fire officer, Mr Emmanuel Musemwa, the city has only two fire tenders both of which unfortunately have broken down.
Mr Musemwa said the city requires at least six fire tenders given its size so that two could be stationed at the Fire Brigade headquarters, one in Senga suburb and three in Mkoba which is the city’s largest suburb. We totally agree with Mr Musemwa that the city is sitting on a time bomb and there is therefore a need to urgently address this anomaly.
The failure by the city’s Fire Brigade to respond to emergencies such as a fire breakout is largely to blame for the millions of dollars worth of property being lost to fires in the city.
The Monday incident whereby 21 vehicles including three commuter omnibuses were reduced to ashes is just one of the many that has seen properties going up in smoke because of Gweru City Council’s lack of preparedness to respond to distress calls. In May this year Gweru Polytechnic College’s Administration Block was gutted by fire that left six offices as well as college storeroom extensively damaged.
The fire destroyed the college’s hotel and catering equipment that was in the storeroom. In September last year, a supermarket within the city’s Central Business District was also gutted by fire and property worth thousands of dollars was destroyed.
On Monday the council Fire Brigade had to ask the Air Force of Zimbabwe’s Thornhill Airbase to provide a tender to help put out the fire at the garage. Mr Musemwa said when they contacted the airbase, they were advised it had no fuel and they had to rush with 50 litres. He said when they got to the fire scene, they could not get water at the nearby hydrant as it was dry.
All these shortcomings are pointing to poor planning by the Gweru City Council which is now exposing residents to high risk of losing properties to fire. Protecting residents’ properties is one of the key functions of a local authority but surprisingly Gweru City Council is not taking this issue seriously.
The council’s priorities seem to be upside down and it is our fervent hope that the new councillors’ immediate task will be to correct this anomaly.
Council should not go even for a single day without at least one operational fire tender but from what Mr Musemwa said, the city has been without fire tenders for sometime now. The council should, without further delay, fix the two fire tenders and work on increasing the fleet to the required six.
Online Reporter