The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) has given Harare City Council a ten-day ultimatum to clear all illegal dumpsites in Mbare high-density suburb.
Harare Metropolitan Province Environmental Education and Publicity Officer Ms Batsirai Sibanda said the agency observed that Mbare is dotted with illegal dumps. Sibanda said:
On February 2, 2021, the Environmental Management Agency has served City of Harare with an Environmental Protection Order.
The circumstance giving rise to serving of the order is of illegal dumps due to non-refuse collection in Mbare in areas that include Mbare Musika Terminus exit, Farmer’s Market, Matererini Flats transfer point, Mutare Rank, Remembrance House transfer point and at Corner Chigwida Street and Ardbernie Street.
Sibanda added that the agency ordered that on or before February 12, the City of Harare should have cleared all the waste from the above-mentioned points and to ensure that any other illegal dumps in Mbare are cleared. She added:
The agency encourages all local authorities to prioritise waste management issues and to adopt an integrated solid waste management plan, which promotes a circular economy.
Ms Sibanda said of mid-January the environmental agency to date has provided City of Harare with a tractor to collect spoils of waste left during storm drain clearing.
Two weeks ago, Pindula News visited Mbare and observed that the suburb is a health time bomb which can explode any time.
Residents are at the risk of contracting diseases like cholera, dysentery and typhoid. See pictures below.
Apart from Mbare, the city has been struggling to collect refuse in almost every suburb resulting in the mushrooming of undesignated dumpsites.
More: The Herald