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Charmaine Brown and Wellington Dengu
Government has urged Epworth residents to prioritise proper waste management and encouraged illegal settlers to vacate wetlands to prevent the contamination of water sources to curb the spread of water-borne diseases.

In an interview with The Herald yesterday, Minister of State for Harare Province Cde Oliver Chidawu said most of the residents in high-density suburbs are sitting on a health time bomb because of lack of proper waste management system, which has resulted in the spread of water- borne diseases.

“I want to implore the Epworth community to take opportunities that come with proper waste management in line with our National Vision 2030 and towards attaining an upper middle income economy status. Let us think outside the box as Epworthcommunity and forge ahead having less residual waste within the environment so that with time it is maintaining cleanliness of our environment.”

“This is the situation in some high-density suburbs especially those where there is no proper planning. Epworth is one of those places, there is no sewage system because you settled yourselves haphazardly. There is no proper disposal of human waste which has resulted in the contamination of underground water and to make matters worse you are drinking water from those shallow wells putting your lives at risk of contracting water- borne diseases such as typhoid, diarrhoea and cholera,” said Minister Chidawu.

The resident minister also urges the residents to recycle waste to create jobs by promoting favourable conditions for a clean environment.

“Recycling of waste using an integrated approach is a solution to income generation and employment creation in the waste management sector. Can we all start practising waste separation at source and trade the recyclable trash for revenue. When waste is separated at source it remains clean, easy to handle and fetches more value when sold to recycling companies.”

“I urge all law enforcement agencies such as thebEnvironmental Management Agency, Zimbabwe Republic Police to be on the guard to prevent further littering and waste dumping. Zimbabweans must take pride of our nation by making it clean,” he said.

EMA Harare provincial environmental manager Mr Robson Mavondo added that there was need to practise proper waste management, as illegal dumping has become a cause for concern in the province.

“The improper deposition of waste is contributing to global warming which is impacting heavily on climate change which has caused poor rainfall patterns, so I call for a collective effort,” he said.