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Municipal Reporter
Raw sewerage has been flowing in many houses in Unit N, Chitungwiza for days now with local authority appealing for Government’s intervention in solving the perennial sewer problems in the town.
The raw sewage was observed last week Friday during a tour of sewer hotspots in Chitungwiza organised by the newly appointed Zanu PF Chitungwiza deputy mayor councillor Kiven Mutimbanyoka.
Our crew observed that there was a time bomb including at house number 12893 where the owner Mrs Mary Pangiti said children were now engaging in open defecation at the backyard of the house as they can no longer access their clogged toilet.
“The squat pan toilet has been clogged for days and some days it may even be flowing all over the yard exposing us to a health time bomb,” she said.
So appalling was the situation across the town with perennial hotspots with some of the challenges being perpetuated by corrupt council officials that corruptly allocated houses on top of sewer lines.
Other observations were that broken down manhole covers were being unattended for years despite the council Engineer David Duma acknowledging that they had many in stock.
Also at Zengeza 4 area opposite Total Service station popularly known as pagomba where sewerage was flowing inside the road the council officials acknowledged having the materials and capacity to replace the broken down main sewer line, but surprisingly no action was being taken.
Speaking during the tour, Chitungwiza Deputy Mayor Mutimbanyoka challenged the council management to do its work diligently saying the town required solutions not procrastination.
“We have been touring the whole of Chitungwiza seeing all the sewer hotspots. We have realised we have serious challenges on the sewer side of things and most of the problems can be sorted out, but it calls for a combined force to work together as a team so that we can give desired results.
“Sewer is flowing almost everywhere. Unfortunately, the infrastructure is gone and we need to set up the new one. We need to buy new equipment. We are going to engage the central Government, so that they can assist us in terms of resources. We are financially constrained as a council, but we are very much alive to the challenges on the ground,” he said.
Deputy Mayor Mutimbanyoka said people deserved to get decent service delivery and through unity of purpose the town was likely to overcome these challenges.
Also speaking during the tour, Zanu-PF Ward 4 councillor Reginald Mashingaidze said his ward has also been battling a challenge of sewer lines that were blocked seven years ago which need urgent replacement.
“What has been happening in the council is that wards led by opposition councillors were being given first priority in maintenance while those from the ruling party Zanu PF were being sabotaged so the appointment of Cllr Mutimbanyoka we hope for the best,” he said.
Zanu PF ward 20 Cllr Innocent Jenje said the ruling party was geared to correct the anomalies that have been caused by the opposition.
“Today (last Friday) we are glad following the appointment of our deputy mayor from Zanu PF party, with less than a few days since appointment he has hit the ground running to support President Mnangagwa’s Vision 2030 anchored on improving livelihoods,” he said.
Eng Duma said the town needed infrastructural replacement and upgrade.
“We are having challenges for infrastructure that was designed for low income squat pans and the pipes serving those areas were meant for households servicing less than five people, but now they carry above 12 people on average and this has strained our infrastructure.
“We are replacing pipes every two and three years and they still come clogged up and become rock solid because of lack of water to wash away the sewer pipes. We have identified some boreholes that can be used to flush the main lines,” he said.
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