Bulawayo councillors have called on the local authority to step up efforts to keep the city clean, urging stronger enforcement of by-laws and better planning to tackle littering and illegal dumping ahead of the rainy season.
The calls were made during deliberations on the Health, Housing and Education Committee report at the latest Full Council meeting, where councillors also proposed a more coordinated approach to improving cleanliness.
Ward 3 councillor Mxolisi Mahlangu suggested introducing night-time cleaning to deal with waste generated by vendors operating overnight, particularly around Tredgold Building and TM Hyper.
“Your Worship, we cannot be doing the same thing and expect to get different results. How about we try night cleaning? We cannot keep on putting all the blame on the Health Committee. What they need is support,” Cllr Mahlangu said.
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“We have a serious challenge of vendors who operate overnight, mainly at areas around Tredgold and TM Hyper. They will be chasing potential customers who use overnight buses. These buses are not divorced from the chaos that we are experiencing. All these are challenges we are faced with as a city.”
Mahlangu said more intensive cleaning was also needed ahead of the rainy season to prevent accumulated waste from blocking stormwater drains.
Proportional Representation councillor Siboniso Moyo questioned the low number of fines issued for littering and illegal dumping, saying it did not reflect the scale of the problem in the city.
According to council minutes, only four deposit fine tickets and 15 written intimations had been issued to offenders during the period under review.
The local authority conducted 77 clean-up exercises during the month, alongside two major clean-up campaigns.
“Your Worship, my worry is that the number of fine tickets issued is not a true reflection of the situation on the ground. When we look at how dirty the city is, four is too little a number,” Cllr Moyo said.
“We also need to revise the fines. How much are these offenders paying when they are caught? You may find that our fines are not deterrent enough, therefore, at the end of the day, they keep repeating the offences.”
Committee chairperson Cllr Ntombizodwa Khumalo agreed that a coordinated approach involving other government departments was needed to improve cleanliness.
“We agree with the councillors that night cleaning could be a better solution to the struggle we are facing. But this needs a collaborative approach with the provincial ministry and the JOC. Of course, we do monthly clean-ups, but we must do more,” she said.
Khumalo said the local authority was limited in the fines it could impose because the penalties were gazetted. She said stronger enforcement would require cooperation with the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) or additional enforcement powers.
“Councillors have also spoken of raising fines, but again, the fines that we have are gazetted accordingly. Unless we work with EMA, or we get arresting powers, we are limited to relatively low fines,” she said.
She said bin coverage in the Central Business District stood at 61 percent, adding that the forthcoming Operation Hlanzeka was expected to strengthen efforts to enforce cleanliness.
“In terms of bin coverage in the CBD, we are currently at 61 percent, which is a fairly good effort. We are hopeful that the upcoming Operation Hlanzeka will also boost us in terms of enforcing cleanliness. We have a lot of work to do. We cannot fight alone, but with adequate support we can do more,” Cllr Khumalo said.
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