‘MBARE IS HOME – SEWAGE OR NO SEWAGE’

Takawira Photovet Dapi

SEH Calaz says he is not ashamed to live and work in Mbare, despite all the challenges facing the suburb, including flowing raw sewage.

He says the capital’s oldest suburb will always remain his dream home area.

His Yala Nation Music Recording Studio is right in the heart of Mbare.

“I grew up here, but if I tell you that I now have money, I will be lying to you,” he told H-Metro.

“The Mercedes Benz that I am sitting in came from these marginalised Mbare businesses.

“I cannot stay in Borrowdale while I spend most of my time here in Mbare.

“If I wake up dead, these are the people who are going to mourn me.

“These are the people who brought me up until the whole nation started knowing about me, handiti wayiwona.”

He said Mbare people should play a leading role in resolving the challenges facing their old home.

“What excites me is that there are a lot of millionaires, who made their money from Mupedzanhamo Market, Siyaso, and other places.

“I don’t think those millionaires cannot help if they are properly approached.”

The ‘Mumota Muri Kubvira’ hitmaker said the sewage crisis can only be resolved through collective efforts.

“We might be staying here in a marginalised Mbare community, but we respect the law when compared to most Zimbabwean communities.

“Trash is always heaped outside our homes to show you that we cleaned our houses.

“Move around inspecting each and every Mbare house, you will be shocked by the cleanliness.

“Kuburitsa marara mumba, tichikanda panze, zvoreva kuti isusu hatidi tsvina.”

“However, our bins are overwhelmed due to non-collection by Council.”

He added:

“We must always try to give back to that community, where we grew up, at some point in our life.

“There are millionaires who came from Mbare, but they are not serious about giving back to the community which raised them.”

He says they have become used to the flowing sewage in their streets.

“It just flows on our roads down to Mukuvisi River, and we are now used to it.

“We grew up in these sewage flows, and to us, it is no longer dirt, but has become normal.

“I’m not saying it’s a good thing, but it means we have survived, and lived with it, for a very long time.

“We are now blind to reality because we have been in this situation for too long.

“It is you who make us realise that it is sewage when you start asking us about it.”

Calaz said many Mbare residents only jump over the sewage flow to prevent their shoes from getting wet.

The smell, he said, no longer has any effect on them.

“If I ask you to spend the day filming, you will witness children playing in sewage, jumping from those garbage heaps into sewage ponds.

“The Mbare sewage crisis just needs people to be united .

“Maybe, the Council will be saying they have no funds for fuel. “But, I believe they must form a joint committee with the community because they collect a lot of money from us.

“Where does all that money go?”