Mbare and Highfield suburbs are the worst affected as waste management services from council remain inconsistent and divorced from the population in the high-density suburbs.
When city council fails to collect refuse, residents end up dumping their garbage on every open space available. Harare Residents Trust (HRT) community coordinator for the area covering the city’s southern areas, Sandra Rupia, said between February and March waste collection had been “very erratic” in most suburbs.
“For the four weeks, starting from February 21 to March 17, garbage trucks did not come to collect rubbish across a huge chunk of Mbare, leading to mounds of rubbish heaps, which are still accumulating,” said Rupia. “The areas with flats are the dirtiest, especially at Nenyere, Matererini, Majubeki and Mbare blocks.”
In Mbare, heaps of garbage have mushroomed and become an eyesore near Shirichena Primary School along Dumbujena road, Muzingeli road, Mbare Green Market, and the open space near the OK shop.
In the Western Triangle and Canaan areas, dumpsites have emerged at Speciss College, Zororo and Cherima bus stop in Highfield becoming an eyesore and a health hazard for children who foraged through the rubbish piles bare-footed before residents and HRT cleaned up the area last week.
The situation was the same in Glen Norah B along High Glen road, at Kudakwashe and Ruvheneko primary schools. Community chairperson for the area, Juliette Masiyambiri, said children were at the highest risk of contracting diseases such as typhoid and cholera as they played in the garbage piles.
“At Kudakwashe Primary School the rubbish site had gone for close to a year without being cleared by the municipality,” she said. “Children on their way home crossed through the waste mounds, which contain discarded baby nappies and other contaminated sanitary wear.”
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Harare City Council has attributed its failure to collect refuse in residential areas to the critical shortage of garbage trucks. However, residents have accused the local authority of misplaced priorities as it pays huge salaries to senior managers at the expense of service delivery.
