Illegal dumper’s paradise on Old Gwanda Road

A 3KM stretch along the Old Gwanda Road has been turned into an unsightly dumping ground, as rogue construction companies illegally discard rubble and waste on both sides of the route.

For a resident of Bulawayo using the Old Gwanda Road for the first time, one will be forgiven for thinking that a section of the dusty road that leads to King Mzilikazi’s Mhlahlandlela Royal Palace is now “officially” part of the city’s landfill sites.

The sheer size of construction rubble and garbage dumped on either side of the road is astounding.
If left unchecked, council will soon have its hands full trying to stop the unbridled dumping of refuse and construction rubble ranging from concrete, bricks, wood, metals, along with plastic, glass, asphalt and heaps of river and plaster sand.

Bulawayo Mayor, Councillor David Coltart, is equally not amused at the sight of rubble and refuse slowly accumulating into mountains of unwanted heaps of garbage.

He is on record proposing heavy fines on anyone caught on the wrong side of the city’s by-laws. Clr Coltart has since proposed fines of not less than $300 to curb the vice.

He said litter fines must be with pain, but at the moment, it is cheaper for companies to pay the fine than to go to a proper dumpsite.

“It’s more painful for an individual who dumps a plastic bottle to pay $30, but it doesn’t hurt the owner of a vehicle who dumps litter, so we need a thorough review of these fines.

“I would like to see a fine of not less than $300 for someone who uses a vehicle and dumps litter. That way, they may think twice about dumping.

“So, I heartily commend these proposals (to increase dumping fines) and urge the Health, Housing and Education Committee to quickly look into the matter as a matter of urgency and come back to us with their recommendations,” said Clr Coltart during a recent council debate.

He narrated an incident recently where a city businessman was caught red-handed dumping litter along Cecil Avenue.

“I posted an incident where a businessman in this city was caught red-handed dumping on Cecil Avenue and another resident photographed the vehicle,” he said.

“I reported that to the cleansing department, who tracked down the owner and he paid a $30 fine. The fine has no relation to the gravity of the offence; it’s no deterrent, especially to companies.

“If you go along Old Gwanda Road, you will be horrified by the amount of dumping largely by construction companies who should know better.”

A resident of Hillside suburb Edmore Chawunga is convinced the culprits dumping are construction companies operating in his suburb and neighbouring Burnside.

“There is a lot of construction and renovation of homes happening in Hillside and Burnside, so the construction companies find it easy to dump their rubble along Old Gwanda Road instead of transporting it to Ngozi Mine (Richmond Landfill), where they are expected to pay to leave the rubble there,” he said.

“Instead of spending money for fuel and dumping fees, at Ngozi Mine, these guys are cutting corners and dumping construction rubble right next to our doorsteps,” said Mr Chawunga.

Old Gwanda Road is connected to the city by a main tarred road that passes next to Bangcwele Shops, where Chronicle spoke to two vendors who sell vegetables and fruits, who said they have observed construction vehicles driving onto the dust road under the cover of darkness.

“The trucks drive into Old Gwanda and disappear into the night, only to come back after a few minutes and now we know that they will be dumping garbage and construction rubble. It’s been happening for close to a year now,” said Angela Mangena.

The proposal to increase fines for littering by as much as 1 000 percent is a move that is meant to deter residents and companies who continue to recklessly dump garbage, councilors said in the council meeting at the BCC chambers.

At the moment, littering fines range from Level 1 ($5) to Level 3 ($30), but the City Fathers believe the figures are not deterrent enough, especially to companies.

Contributing to a debate during the latest full council meeting, Cllrs called upon the Health, Housing and Education Committee, chaired by Ward 17 councillor, Sikhululekile Moyo, to urgently look into the matter and come up with recommendations.

Ward Five Clr Dumisani Nkomo led the debate, arguing that a smaller local authority, Victoria Falls City, had fines of as much as $100.

“I would like to propose that we review our littering fines upwards. This council has engaged bilaterally with Victoria Falls City, which has fines of up to $100, so I think there is no excuse for us not to review our fines upwards; they are a local authority just like us, actually smaller than us,” he said.

“I, therefore, propose that the committee looks into the fines issue for litter hazards,” said Cllr Nkomo.
The motion was seconded by Ward 22 Cllr Mmeli Moyo, who said there was also a need to look at the capacitation of those who must monitor littering in various wards.