admin
The board, which is empowered by the Environmental Management Act Chapter 20:27 to have the jurisdiction of a magistrate’s court has the power to issue fines of up to $5 000 and a prison term of up to one year for habitual offenders.
The Bulawayo City Council and a number of tanneries in Bulawayo’s Belmont industrial area have been fined a number of times for discharging untreated waste into the river.
In an interview on Monday, Environment and Natural Resources Management Minister Francis Nhema said the pollution “crisis” in Umguza had reached levels that called for drastic action.
“Villagers in Umguza deserve better. If we continue being soft on offenders, we would be contributing to the deaths of innocent villagers. Besides destroying the environment, a number of horrific effects that include cancer are suffered by villagers who use the water,” said Minister Nhema.
He said compromises on environmental issues always resulted in communities being worse off.
“It seems issuing fines is not deterrent. These people should therefore appear before EMA and explain their case. If they are found guilty, they have to pay. They have to account for the destruction of delicate ecosystems that existed in the river and the hundreds of lives that they are putting at risk through their irresponsibility,” he said.
The Minister said if the situation was allowed to continue future generations may not be able to live along the river or use its water, which is a lifeline in irrigation schemes in the district.
“We are tired of talking about the same thing all the time. Very soon we shall be announcing a date for the hearing and I assure you that action designed to stop the pollution will be taken,” he said.
EMA director Mr Aaron Chigona said the board listened to the agency’s side of the story and that of the accused before making a decision.
“According to Section 27 up to 31 of the Act, the board may uphold or alter EMA fines. If it finds that company policies are responsible for the organisation’s environmental crimes, the CEOs may be sued in their individual capacities and section 137 provides for a total imprisonment term of up to one year and or a fine of $5 000,” said Mr Chigona.
Mr Temba Mhlanga, a manager at Belmont Leathers, one of the companies accused of polluting the river, blamed the Bulawayo City Council.
“We treated our effluent and pumped it into the city’s sewer system. The sewer burst and EMA traced the trickles of chromium in it back to us,” said Mr Mhlanga.
An official at Wet Blue Industries told the same story.
A comment could not be obtained from the local authority as its senior public relations officer, Mrs Nesisa Mpofu had not responded to questions e-mailed to her on Monday, by the time of going to Press.
Last week, the Member of the House of Assembly for Umguza, Dr Obert Mpofu, warned the polluting companies that if they did not stop poisoning the river, legal action would be taken against them.
Umguza River is filled with untreated human waste from sewers in Bulawayo, dangerous poisons like lead, mercury, traces of cyanide and chromium 6 from companies in the city.
Zinwa’s Gwayi Catchment manager Mr Fortune Musona, under whose area of jurisdiction the river falls, said crops irrigated with the water had elevated toxin levels and did not meet international standards for exportation.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, Dr Gerald Gwinji, said if the concentration of the polluting chemicals increased to a certain level, drinking water from the river could prove fatal.
A medical expert added that people who drank water from the river or ate animals that drank from it risked cumulative lead and mercury poisoning.
He said the effects that could manifest even after 20 years or in future generations, included babies born with deformities or children who are extremely dull.
The doctor said communities along the river could get cancer or suffer from skin disorders because of the chemicals being dumped into Umguza River.
Bulawayo residents who eat fish caught in the river faced the same risk as villagers who use the water for different purposes.
EMA has fined the Bulawayo City Council a total of $10 000 this year for polluting the river.
The Cold Storage Company (CSC) and Belmont Leather were fined $1 000 each while Prestige Leather was hit with $500 for illegal dumpsites while another tannery was fined $1 000 for deliberately channelling toxic effluent into the city’s storm drains, which empty into Umguza River.
Leading bakeries like Lobels and Bakers Inn have also been issued with warnings after their operations were deemed likely to add to the river’s pollution.
Online Reporter