BY PATRICIA SIBANDA
Residents have challenged Bulawayo City Council to urgently rehabilitate storm water drains in many suburbs after heavy rains saw some houses getting flooded due to blockages.
Several houses in suburbs such as Njube, Sizinda, Tshabalala and Nkulumane are now prone to flooding due to poor drainage systems.
Winos Dube, a Bulawayo United Residents Association official, said the blockage of storm water drains had caused a lot of damage to property owned by residents
“We call upon the responsible authorities to do their utmost best to construct storm water drains,” Dube said.
“This system of digging and clearing storm water drains is not helping.
“Strong material like cement and stones should be used to build storm drains rather than using temporary drains which easily get silted and blocked.”
Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association chairperson Ambrose Sibindi said residents were also partly to blame for the problem.
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“People should stop dumping dirt in the storm water drains,” Sibindi said.
“The responsibility is on both sides, we need to act together and assist the council as well.”
He said council should come up with a programme to educate residents on the effects of dumping waste into storm water drains. Bulawayo deputy mayor Mlandu Ncube said the city had not yet faced any serious flooding, but advised residents to stop dumping waste in storm water drains.
“I think the only place that has been affected by flooding is Cowdray Park and we urge residents to contact our hotline in case there is a flooding,” Ncube said.
“As council, we now have a standby rapid response team.”
He said council was looking for funds to build proper storm water drains.
