Living in garbage hell

Talent Gore

RESIDENTS of Hillside, Braeside, Craneborne, Hatfield and Ruwa have criticised Harare City Council and Ruwa Local Board for failing to honour their refuse collection schedule.

This has resulted in them going for months with piles of garbage at their gates and streets.

There is an unpleasant smell from garbage containers along Brooks Road in Hillside.

Residents, who spoke to H-Metro, indicated that a health hazard could be looming, as they have gone for months without refuse being collected.

Tawanda Ngirazi, a local resident, said the City of Harare normally collects refuse every Tuesday but, for the past two months, the municipality has not been collecting garbage from their houses.

“I am so frustrated with the lack of refuse collection by the Council in this area,” he said.

“Just recently, they were celebrating having new refuse trucks but, honestly, we don’t see their use because we haven’t seen any in this area,” he said.

Ngirazi also complained that the City of Harare workers were not responding to their calls.

“All in all, the waste management is really terrible.  

“When you enquire from the responsible person for the ward, you don’t get a response. 

“It’s so draining, especially when you are paying your bills,” he said.

Another resident, Getrude Gore, in Damofalls, said it was unusual of the Ruwa Local Board not to collect refuse on time.

“This is unlike them, they usually collect on time, however, this past month has been hell,” she said.

“Imagine taking sacks of garbage outside every Thursday and putting them back inside.

“We now fear for our health, the stench that’s coming from these packs is so unpleasant, we are running out of options.”

Ruwa Local Board Town spokesperson, Josephine Mwaitirwa, said the matter had been resolved.

“We have received complaints and we are working towards resolving the matter, we have been facing fuel shortages and that has contributed to the non-collection of refuse,” she said.

“We have since started collecting refuse after having talked with our fuel suppliers so that they can give us fuel in RTGS.

“Since we started collecting refuse in the afternoon today (yesterday) we are hoping that by next week we will be back to our normal service delivery. 

“Under normal circumstances, we operate at 95- 100 percent.”

Efforts to get a comment from the City of Harare were fruitless.