The Government is moving to bring waste management company Geo Pomona Waste Management into Bulawayo as part of an urgent response to the city’s worsening waste crisis and pollution concerns at Richmond Landfill, commonly known as Ngozi Mine.
Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe on Thursday directed the Bulawayo City Council and Geo Pomona to enter into an agreement within a week to replicate the company’s waste management model at the landfill.
Garwe said Geo Pomona would play a central role in addressing the pollution from Ngozi Mine, where fumes have raised concerns among residents of surrounding suburbs, including Cowdray Park.
“That’s why we have Geo Pomona today. The chief executive is here to move to site and tell the problems at Ngozi Mine so that people in Bulawayo, particularly in Cowdray Park, also breathe fresh air. It is their responsibility, it is their right to breathe fresh air,” Garwe said.
On this topic
He was speaking during a stakeholder engagement meeting at the Small City Hall in Bulawayo as the Government steps up its nationwide urban clean-up campaign.
The meeting brought together officials from the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, Geo Pomona chief executive and executive chairman Dr Dilesh Nguwaya, Bulawayo City Council management and councillors, Mayor David Coltart, Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Judith Ncube and members of the Joint Operations Command.
Garwe said the intervention would also be supported by a Presidential Bins Scheme under which companies would provide bins for urban communities, with Geo Pomona expected to play a leading role.
“The President has come up with a programme which we are calling the Presidential Bins Scheme. We are having corporate companies providing those bins and Geo Pomona is topping that initiative,” he said.
The scheme is intended to improve access to waste-disposal facilities and reduce littering in public spaces.
“There will be no shortage of bins for anyone who wants to throw litter on the ground or to throw litter everywhere. We are going to be having those bins. Let’s respect those bins as home for litter,” Garwe said.
The minister said the Government wanted to restore Bulawayo’s reputation as the City of Kings and Queens, which he said had been undermined by litter, illegal dumping, blocked pavements and unregulated informal trading.
“Bulawayo must not be defined by irregularity, disorder and dirt. The CBD is not a dump site. The central business district is the home for business, commerce,” he said.
Garwe said the clean-up campaign was not intended to be driven solely through enforcement, but through engagement between authorities, residents and businesses.
“We are not here to bark instructions or to threaten anybody. We are here to engage. We are here to build relationships,” he said.
He also criticised the use of roads and pavements by informal traders, saying local authority by-laws did not provide for pushcarts to operate in the central business district.
Garwe said Government had engaged the leadership of the National Vendors Association in Harare, which had indicated that it would cooperate with authorities, and called for similar cooperation from vendors in Bulawayo.
Acknowledging that authorities had also contributed to the problems facing urban centres, Garwe said Government and local authorities had a responsibility to help resolve them.
“When these problems were created, we were the architects of that creation of the problems. We were the engineers who were designing the problems that are before us,” he said.
“This is an opportunity for all of us to be part of the solution to the problems we created.”
Garwe said the waste crisis was affecting urban centres across Zimbabwe and was inconsistent with the country’s aspirations to attain upper-middle-income status.
He said cities could not attract investment and support sustainable businesses while struggling with litter, open defecation, blocked pavements and unregulated trading.
The minister singled out Ngozi Mine for urgent attention, particularly because of concerns over fumes affecting nearby communities.
“We must never make an apology to anybody who may want to sway our mindsets to ensure that we continue living in dirty places and that we continue breathing polluted air from Ngozi Mine. The answer is no,” Garwe said.
Garwe also condemned the disposal of human waste in plastic bags, describing the practice as “flying toilets”.
“A flying toilet is a plastic bag where some people help themselves, then tie and throw it. It can fall on top of your car, on top of someone’s head,” he said.
He said restoring Bulawayo’s cleanliness would require cooperation between Government, the local authority, residents, businesses and councillors.
Garwe said the broader objective was to ensure that future generations inherited clean, functional and attractive cities capable of attracting investment and supporting economic activity.
Leave a Reply