adminMutsawashe Mashandure
Herald Correspondent
As Harare deteriorates into a cholera epicentre with infection rates doubling, the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) has embarked on a 30-day clean-up blitz following the continued dereliction of duty by opposition-led Harare City Council.
Harare residents have seen 16 deaths with 47 more suspected fatalities.
The operation’s immediate goal is to make Harare clean through clearing up waste dumps, all road servitudes, sanitary lanes and ensuring sustainable waste management going forward.
Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Deputy Minister Barbara Rwodzi yesterday led the EMA team in a clean up blitz at Glen Norah B shopping centre, popularly known as KwaFatso, where she was joined by other residents.
A Statutory Instrument is being crafted to allow EMA to arrest urban councils for failure to maintain a clean environment.
“We shall be arresting every city council that fails to fulfil their legal obligations and we will also arrest individuals that pollute the environment. It’s actually very disappointing, but we must act to ensure that our nation is clean and that Harare returns to its former glory as a city of sunshine,” she said.
The clean up blitz will culminate in the adoption of better practices in waste management as the agency seeks to attain a clean and safe environment for all.
This exercise comes at a time when mounds of uncollected garbage have been piling up in practically all parking lots and other open places in several suburbs for several months because the opposition-run city council finds it very difficult to keep just half the required garbage trucks on the road.
Glen View and Hatcliffe are among the high density suburbs that have been covered so far and the clean-up shall be carried out in other major hot spots of cholera.
“We are going to take this programme across the country, but we decided to start with Harare Province where there are many cases of typhoid and cholera.
“We are trying to mitigate the situation and also to ensure that Harare sets the example for the whole country since it is the biggest city,” Deputy Minister Rwodzi said.
Some of the residents who spoke to The Herald yesterday in Glen Norah expressed anger at the council for failing to collect garbage on time.
“We are forced to litter because the Harare City Council rarely comes to collect garbage. I can’t even recall the last time they did, ” Ms Nyaradzai Kufanesu said.
Another resident, Ms Nomsa Tinarwo also expressed dismay over poor service delivery, saying this was now a daily occurrence.
“I hope this is not a once off event. EMA needs to come more often because the City Council is doing nothing at all,” she said.
Zanu PF aspiring councillor for ward 27 in Glen Norah Constituency, Cde Wisdom Kleeinbool said they had established a neighbourhood watch committee that would collaborate with EMA to prevent unlawful garbage dumping.
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