adminEvelene Taadira Herald Reporter
Government has ordered the Environmental Management Agency to clamp down on syndicates believed to be issuing illegal stands in Chitungwiza. Speaking after touring Pomona dump site in Harare and illegal stands in Chitungwiza on Wednesday, Deputy Minister of Environment, Water and Climate Engineer Simon Musanhu ordered EMA to quickly contain the situation by summoning the developers.
Former MDC-T councillor for Ward 4 Boniface Manyonganise, who was last year arrested for a botched stand scam involving the allocation of 358 stands, is one of those alleged to be issuing stands without council authority.
“What is so special about Chitungwiza that an individual should allocate stands illegally in protected areas?
“That same individual also has a syndicate approving the stands at the council offices and this should not be so.
“I was in a full council meeting and officials said there are a few individuals who have become too powerful to the extent of allocating houses through consortiums without council knowledge, on council land only to enrich themselves.
“EMA should quickly issue orders to these individuals without delay so that we sanitise our country,” Deputy Minister Musanhu said.
He bemoaned the lack of compliance to environmental laws by institutions and individuals alike.
“As a ministry and EMA we are serious about environmental issues and we are going to deal with them proactively, we have issued orders and we expect compliance,” he said.
Furthermore, he said the Harare City Council was mandated to deal with the situation at Pomona dump site where fire broke out three weeks ago, in what is believed to have been a result of a vagrant who wanted to prepare a meal.
Council is believed to have received orders twice earlier in the year to compact the waste to prevent the spread of fire if such incidents occurred.
Online Reporter