adminthe environment, poor refuse collection and uncontrolled solid waste management at their dumpsite.
The local authority was also convicted for developing residential and commercial stands on wetlands.
Chitungwiza Municipality, represented by its director of works Mr Alfonce Tinofa admitted discharging 25 mega litres of raw sewerage daily directly into Nyatsime and Manyame Rivers.
He pleaded guilty to three counts levelled against the municipality.
In the first count, as outlined by EMA vice-chairperson Ms Jennifer Tanyanyiwa, was the development of residential and commercial stands in wetlands in violation of Section 97 of Environmental Management Act.
“The second count is the disposal of raw sewage into the environment at Zengeza Sewage Treatment Works and pump station 3 without a licence contravening Section 57 of the Act Chapter 20:27, Section 5 (1) as read with section 5 (1) of Statutory Instrument 6 of 2007.
“The third count is uncontrolled solid waste management at the dumpsite and poor refuse management, contravening Section 70 of the Act as read with Section 5(1) of the statutory instrument 6 of 2007,” said Ms Tanyanyiwa.
EMA ordered Mr Tinofa to bring senior managers including the mayor and town clerk for sentence today.
“It is true that we are disposing 25 mega litres of raw sewerage daily into Manyame and Nyatsime River since 2004 when our facilities stopped working and we could not repair them due to economic challenges.
“Harare Metropolitan is affected because we are up stream, we are also aware of that.
“We are aware that we are seriously damaging the eco-system and currently we are pumping water directly from Lake Chivero since 2009. In Unit G there is a pipe line that continuously collapses at Seke Teachers College but we are working to rectify the problem,” he said.
“We have received a grant of US$3,5 million and the money will go a long way in rectifying the financial crisis we are currently facing.
“We also received US$3 million from central Government for pipe replacement and we have since engaged a private company to provide 20 refuse compactors, 10 will be delivered towards the end of this year and another 10 early next year,” he said.
Mr Tinofa said Chitungwiza Municipality has been operating without a qualified town planner since 2004, which resulted in serious urban planning problems.
“We only managed to engage a qualified town planner in February this year and we won’t be having problems in the near future.
“Now that we know it is illegal to allocate residential and commercial stands on wetlands, all developments on wetlands have to be stopped. The people will be reallocated but I am afraid there is nothing we can do to those who have already developed their stands,” he said.
Online Reporter