Published by the government of Zimbabwe
18 November 2008
editorial
Bulawayo was for a long time regarded as the cleanest city in the country and it was a marvel to visitors from all walks of life.
However, things have taken a negative route over the years as the Bulawayo City Council administrators have failed to live up to standards set by those who ran city affairs before them.
While we acknowledge that it has become hard to run the city smoothly owing to the economic crunch, we believe that not much is being done to address the ever worsening situation of sewer system bursts and uncollected garbage.
A stroll in any part of the city is now a nightmare because of flowing sewage. What is disturbing is that some residents have been living in such conditions for close to a year now, and the council has taken no remedial action.
Rains are already with us and they have worsened the situation as the waste is now flowing even in major roads leading to the city centre and at this pace, it would not be surprising if such rivers flow through the central business district.
Apart from being an eyesore, this kind of dirt puts everyone in the city at the mercy of diseases such as cholera and dysentery.
Some parts of the country like Harare, Chitungwiza, Bindura and Beitbridge have been hard hit by cholera, but no such cases have been reported in Bulawayo.
The situation is unlikely to remain healthy if the city fathers do not do anything to repair the sewer system. We urge the council to put more resources into repairing the sewer system before it gets too late and people start dying in dozens because of diseases like cholera.
We reported yesterday that the council rejected proposals to have designated dumpsites in the suburbs, saying such a move would pose a serious environmental health hazard.
The council noted that it did not have enough resources to collect garbage from such places, adding that flies also breed in dumpsites due to decomposition of highly perishable domestic waste, which also harbour rodents. What worsened the situation, the council noted, were the numerous sewer blockages around the high density suburbs, leading to a possibility of raw sewage being trapped in piled-up refuse thereby creating an environment conducive to breeding of flies.
We note that the council took into consideration a number of fair arguments, and we believe it should be proactive and attend to uncollected garbage and burst sewer systems in time to avoid the spread of diseases.
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