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Blessings Chidakwa

Municipal Reporter

Residents of Mbare are having to cope with blocked or burst sewers and mounds of uncollected garbage and see no relief from the Harare City Council.

A concerned resident, Mr Arthur Muromba, said the situation was now beyond the council’s control, and called on central Government to assist to preserve peoples’ health.

“The worst heap of uncollected refuse is just 20m away from the main entrance to the offices of the Department of Housing and Community Services,” he said.

Residents of Tagarika flats are among the most exposed to diseases from the garbage and blocked main sewers.

“It is definitely a disastrous situation here. People will die from cholera or typhoid and even Covid-19 which demands cleanliness, hence our appeal to the Government to intervene and save the people,” he said.

Acting city spokesperson Mr Innocent Ruwende blamed Zimra for garnishing accounts over unpaid PAYE deductions.

He said council was aware of the problems and will “shortly” move in to remove the garbage and fix the sewers.

“Council was incapacitated following a decision by Zimra to garnish our accounts on December 24 last year. We would not pay our suppliers hence we have been failing to provide some services.

“We are now on a recovery path as Zimra wiped $118 million from our accounts including $46 million meant for roads which was paid by Zinara in December,” he said.

Harare City Council continues to shift blame on everyone and everything else except itself.

At some stage, council claimed it did not have fuel to collect garbage and late last year, Zimra probably provided a useful defence for incompetence, garnishing its account.

At the moment, a number of old jacaranda trees, now over their century lifespan, fell after heavy rains and winds hit Harare on Tuesday afternoon and some of the trees are yet to be removed from roads.

There is a general consensus that most urban councils have deteriorated since year 2000 when the MDC took control.

Roads are in bad shape and with Zimra garnishing the $46 million that council had received for roads from Zinara, the situation can only get worse.

Broken down vehicles next to deep potholes have become a common feature.