EMA, City of Harare join hands to fight cholera

Andrew Muvishi Herald Reporter
The Environment Management Agency (EMA) in partnership with the City of Harare, has distributed bins to households in Glen View and cleared waste dumps in Budiriro as the fight against cholera intesifies.

EMA sensitised the residents on how to manage waste.

EMA’s environment educational and publicity officer, Mr Leon Mutungamiri, urged residents to use bins and desist from dumping litter at illegal sites.

“We are distributing bins door to door in Glen View, which is the epicentre of the cholera outbreak,” he said. “We are also urging residents to separate their waste at the source. Waste that decays is supposed to be composited and the other waste that does not decompose easily should be placed in the bin, which we are distributing.

“We are also telling them to desist from dumping litter at illegal sites.”

Mr Mutungamiri said they were targeting about 30 000 households in Glen View and the response from the residents had been overwhelming.

“We have already distributed about 2 600 bins and people are appreciating our efforts to combat the effects of dumping waste on illegal sites,” he said.

“We are not only going to distribute these bins in Glen View and Budiriro alone, we are also going to distribute them in surrounding areas.”

Residents said council had not collected waste from their homes.

“The council is violating our rights as residents,” said Ms Anna Gwashiti of Glen Vview. “We are not happy about their service delivery. Trucks rarely come to collect refuse now, so why do we have to pay rates?

“Harare has lost its sunshine status. Uncollected garbage is strewn across many streets and sidewalks in the capital, showing the inefficiency of the city’s waste collection system that has become a sore point for residents.

“Mountains of garbage in most parts Harare have filled up the city’s landfills and open spaces due to poor and substandard collection service by the council.”

The city’s corporate communications manager, Mr Michael Chideme, said the removal of waste dumped on illegal site is an ongoing process in all suburbs.

“The removal of garbage, which has been dumped on illegal sites, is an ongoing process in all our suburbs.”