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Refuse
dumpsites re-emerge in public places
Shingayi
Jena, The Standard (Zimbabwe)
May
27, 2012
View this article
on The Standard website
Heaps of garbage
have re-emerged in most open and public places in Harare as the
council fails to consistently collect refuse across the city, exposing
residents to diseases.
Mbare and Highfield
suburbs are the worst affected as waste management services from
council remain inconsistent and divorced from the population in
the high-density suburbs.
When city council
fails to collect refuse, residents end up dumping their garbage
on every open space available. Harare
Residents Trust (HRT) community coordinator for the area covering
the city's southern areas, Sandra Rupia, said between February
and March waste collection had been "very erratic" in
most suburbs.
"For the
four weeks, starting from February 21 to March 17, garbage trucks
did not come to collect rubbish across a huge chunk of Mbare, leading
to mounds of rubbish heaps, which are still accumulating,"
said Rupia. "The areas with flats are the dirtiest, especially
at Nenyere, Matererini, Majubeki and Mbare blocks."
In Mbare, heaps
of garbage have mushroomed and become an eyesore near Shirichena
Primary School along Dumbujena road, Muzingeli road, Mbare Green
Market, and the open space near the OK shop.
In the Western
Triangle and Canaan areas, dumpsites have emerged at Speciss College,
Zororo and Cherima bus stop in Highfield becoming an eyesore and
a health hazard for children who foraged through the rubbish piles
bare-footed before residents and HRT cleaned up the area last week.
The situation
was the same in Glen Norah B along High Glen road, at Kudakwashe
and Ruvheneko primary schools. Community chairperson for the area,
Juliette Masiyambiri, said children were at the highest risk of
contracting diseases such as typhoid and cholera as they played
in the garbage piles.
"At Kudakwashe
Primary School the rubbish site had gone for close to a year without
being cleared by the municipality," she said. "Children
on their way home crossed through the waste mounds, which contain
discarded baby nappies and other contaminated sanitary wear."
Harare City
Council has attributed its failure to collect refuse in residential
areas to the critical shortage of garbage trucks.
However, residents
have accused the local authority of misplaced priorities as it pays
huge salaries to senior managers at the expense of service delivery.
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