Story by Wellington Makonese
HARARE residents have pleaded with the city fathers to prioritise waste management, amid a cholera crisis which is threatening to dampen the festive season mood.
Months have passed since a distress call was made over the City of Harare’s waste management practices and remains a case of the more things change the more they remain the same.
Market Square, which the ZBC News has frequently visited remains a hotspot with piles of refuse that have become a permanent site at the bus termini.
“We no longer understand whether it is sabotage or what, they just can’t clear it. Everyone is coming and dumping here,” said a Harare resident.
Another said, “To some of us this has been home for years we work here and eat here but it’s a matter of time before the mess destroys us.”
“We are in the middle of the cholera crisis but they have no effort to deal with this,” added a resident.
While the area has become an eyesore, it has had ripple effects on businesses around the terminus.
Harare Youth Transporters Association chairperson, Edmore Tirivanhu Gwengwe said, “We pay rates here, every vehicle that comes in pays but some are failing because the heaps of garbage are blocking the way, the toilets are not functioning so passengers get stranded. So, we are not sure we have value for our money.”
While garbage has become a problem, some residential areas have been affected by sewer bursts at a time when the city is seized with containing the cholera outbreak.
