Harare mayor Jacob Mafume has described council's €304 million waste management agreement with Geogenix BV as "a deal with the devil" after council trucks were turned away from its Pomona dumpsite, which is now owned by the Netherlands based company.
The agreement was approved by Cabinet in February this year and enforced by local government minister July Moyo, who had to physically confront council officials at Town House demanding that they approve takeover of the main dumpsite as part of the waste management agreement.
Titled "Concession Agreement to Design, Build and Operate the Harare Pomona Waste Management Facility and Waste to Energy Power Plant," the deal gives Geogenix BV rights to charge council even for undelivered waste, after setting annual targets.
Geogenix BV is charging council US$40 in cash for every tonne dumped at Pomona with communication gleaned by NewZimbabwe.com indicating the city fathers are failing to afford it mainly because the firm has refused to take payment in the local Zimbabwe dollar at the Reserve bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) rate.
On Monday, council got a rude awakening when its dump trucks were turned away from Pomona, resulting in uproar within Town House where Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) councillors are accusing their MDC Alliance councillors of having corruptly approved the deal.
"It is an atrocious, sustainable deal which defies logic and any decency of morality; that anyone can do that to a community, simply put a fence around a common site and then start charging is the height of thievery and lunacy," said Mafume.
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"Residents have to reject that deal with the contempt it deserves.
"The MDC Alliance councillors approved that deal, as a golden handshake to keep their positions. What they did not realise was that it was a deal with the devil."
The national project was signed by representatives of council, the attorney general, government and controversial President Emmerson Mnangagwa close associate Delish Nguwaya, on behalf of Geogenix BV.
An artistic impression of a developed Pomona dumpsite
Geogenix BV will operate a waste management facility for 30 years on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis, with understanding it will develop the site into a 22 megawatt power plant.
"We regret to inform you that as of today, with immediate effect and without warning or notice, we are being charged US dollars cash to dump at the Pomona dumpsite. The dump is under new ownership, and the new charge per tonne is strictly in cash only, no negotiation," read communication by The Capital Waste Team, one of council's garbage collectors.
"Our trucks were turned away as our driver did not have any cash on him and the new owners refused to negotiate; we therefore will be increasing our prices to accommodate these exorbitant charges with effect from today (Monday 16 May, 2022).
"For now, we will charge an extra ZW$16 000 per collection. This may have to increase in the near future, if or when we gain some clarity on the situation."
