Health time bomb at Mapinga Business Centre

John Murwira Mash West Correspondent
RESIDENTS of Mapinga Business Centre, on the foot of the Great Dyke Range in Mashonaland West, are calling on Zvimba Rural District Council to urgently intervene and address the rampant open defecation and waste disposal that has become a health time bomb. Mapinga is a hive of activity, especially at night, when scores of haulage trucks make a stopover as the drivers engage in clubbing and braaing.

This normally attracts prostitutes from Harare, Chinhoyi, Banket, Mutorashanga and Raffingora, who mill around the nightspots and parking area looking for customers. As a result, the few ablution facilities have been failing to cope, resulting in most people defecating in the open.

When The Herald visited the centre yesterday, there were used tissues, human excreta and litter around the business centre. One of villagers who lives at the compound which is at the backyard of the business centre said business people who are operating are just after profits and were not attending to things like toilets.

“Mapinga Business Centre is expanding, but without proper health and sanitation facilities and council is not doing anything about this,” said the villager. Environmental Management Agency’s Mashonaland West education and publicity officer Mr Munyaradzi Nhariswa said they are equally concerned about the levels of pollution at the business centre.

“As EMA, we are equally concerned by the high levels of pollution at Mapinga Service Centre emanating from illegal dumping of waste and open defecation. The absence of a waste management system has left the place heavily littered and this is a threat to the achievement of a clean, safe and healthy environment for all. We urge the rural district council to adopt a waste management system for Mapinga, which ensures regular litter picking and the provision of adequate sanitary facilities for the disposal of waste,” said Mr Nhariswa.

Efforts to get a comment from Zvimba Rural District Council chief executive were fruitless as his phone was unreachable.