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Collen Murahwa Herald Reporter
HARARE residents are bemoaning the city council’s reluctance to attend to burst sewer pipes in the Avenues suburb, saying this is likely to cause a serious disease outbreak.

Residents yesterday expressed displeasure at the MDC-led Harare City Council (HCC) failure to attend to the problem despite the matter being reported over a month ago.

“We have reported this issue for over a month and each time they tell us that they will come and repair the burst sewer, but to our surprise, they never come,” said Reverend Alexander Mahlava.

“We now fear for our children as there is burst sewer all over our house as you can see. We can’t be with our children all the time, sometimes they sneak out from the house and you see them playing outside.

“Harare City Council should not take a casual approach to these issues as our life is at stake; you know there is cholera and typhoid,” he added.

Francisca Chikombe was equally disappointed by the council’s dereliction of duty. “We have approached the city council on many occasions to solve the sewer and water situation here. We have not been receiving water, and we reported to the city council, but they haven’t come to attend to the situation and its now over a month,” she said.

“What worries me is that we are just a few minutes walk from the council offices, yet they cannot come and help us. What more in locations that are far from town?” she added.

Elizabeth Konoloniyo said frequent sewer bursts are likely to put residents at risk. “We are now worried because this situation may result in disease outbreaks such as cholera and typhoid as the situation has obtained for over a month and the city council seems to have forsaken us,” she said.

HCC corporate communications manager Mr Michael Chideme had not responded to questions by the time of going to print.

Earlier this year, Harare mayor Councillor Bernard Manyenyeni admitted failure by the MDC-T led council to turn around the fortunes of the city.