The Sunday News
Fairness Moyana
WHEN two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers, so goes the old adage and true to its meaning, residents of the coal mining town of Hwange have been rendered victims of a nasty battle between two elephants — the Hwange Local Board (HLB) and the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) on who should attend to the broken down sewer reticulation plant.
The battle, which started soon after Zinwa took over control of water and sewer administration in most towns across the country following a Government directive 12 years ago, has seen raw effluent being discharged into Deka River and Kalope Dam which are sources of drinking water for the communities of St Mary’s and Mashala.
HLB was prepared to accept the sewer infrastructure back only if Zinwa handed over water administration of the town as well arguing that the revenue from the water administration would assist in the maintenance of the sewer plant. However, the water authority was not prepared to do so hence the continued impasse. This resulted in HLB neglecting the sewer infrastructure which eventually led to recurrent sewer pipe bursts spewing raw sewage into the streets and streams.
Efforts by the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) to address the land and water pollution hazard failed as the two authorities would only engage in continued mud-slinging. According to a letter dated 5 April 2013 written to the EMA provincial office by a J.M. Mbatha, the operations engineer for Gwayi Catchment on a ticket issued to the water authority, Mbatha objected to paying the fine arguing that the sewer treatment system belonged to HLB.
“I refer to the pollution ticket which was issued to Zinwa on 2 April 2013. We have serious reservations in signing the admission of guilt document because the sewer treatment plants belong to HLB and Zinwa has made several attempts to hand over the plants to them but they have refused. We have reason to believe HLB has in the past received funding for the rehabilitation of the sewer plants but have not done anything towards the plant’s rehabilitation,” read part of the letter.
Zinwa further argued that instead of dealing with the treatment plants HLB directed their efforts towards rehabilitation of the sewer collection pipeline.
“It is with this in mind that Zinwa has reservations towards paying $5 000 imposed upon us, as we feel that HLC should shoulder the burden of any such fines since the sewer system belongs to them. We are willing to engage in dialogue with EMA, HLB and any other stakeholders so we resolve the impasse.”
HLB chief executive officer Mr Ndumiso Mdlalose also wrote to Zinwa Gwayi Catchment manager expressing dissatisfaction and concern over the failure by the water authority to service the sewer reticulation system efficiently from the time it took over the running of water and sewer in 2004. He called on Zinwa to officially hand back the running of the run-down infrastructure arguing that they would source for resources to repair it.
“Hwange has two waste plants — Baobab and Empumalanga. These treatment plants stopped working in 2004 after Zinwa took over the management and this saw untreated waste water being discharged into rivers and streams. Currently, management of sewer is under Zinwa. Over the years Zinwa has not been able to provide resources for the maintenance and rehabilitation of the sewer reticulation infrastructure. HLB is therefore requesting Zinwa to officially hand back to HLB the management of the same. HLB would like to incorporate into its 2013 budget the management of the reticulation and treatment infrastructure. We will vigorously look for resources to attend to the collapsed infrastructure so as to avoid environmental pollution,” wrote Mr Mdlalose.
The matter has since spilled into the courts and the legal processes are further delaying the issue with nothing being done to rectify the problem as raw sewage continues flowing in the streets and into streams.
On 14 April this year, two days before the trial, HLB chairman Clr Cosmas Kabolooma Ndhlovu wrote to the Clerk of Court advising the courts that the authority boss would represent it while denying the environmental violation charges against them.
“Please be advised that council denies breaking the EMA Act and states that the responsibility to manage sewer plants was taken by Zinwa in 2004 and its Zinwa which is still in control of the sewer plants, not HLB,” he said.
In a bid to break the current impasse, EMA recently dragged the two to court but even that has not helped as the matter was postponed to a later date. With raw effluent finding its way into drinking water sources, the environmental watchdog has warned that it is only a matter of time before the health time-bomb explodes.
The untreated waste does not go through chlorination and aeration, processes that kill all pathogenic organisms and removes nutrients that cause diseases and algae bloom. Algae and certain harmful plants utilise the high level of nutrients which consists of nitrogen and phosphate causing them to grow rapidly and in the process depleting dissolved oxygen. Low dissolved oxygen affects aquatic life such as fish as well as the chemical composition of water giving rise to water borne diseases.
According to court documents in possession of the Sunday News, HLB and Zinwa have failed to comply with an order to rectify the township’s sewer system and are being charged with failure to properly dispose waste under the Environmental Management Act. Though details of the closed door consultative meeting between the prosecution and a legal team representing HLB and Zinwa were sketchy, it is understood that the two failed to agree on responsibility forcing the prosecution to suspend the case and refer it to the civil court in order to determine the legal owner.
“The case failed to kick off after both parties who were each represented by lawyers refused ownership of the sewer reticulation system.
This created a technical problem for the prosecution on who to charge hence the matter was referred to the civil court to determine the rightful owner of the dilapidated property. So this means if EMA is to pursue the issue it has to approach the civil court for a determination on legal ownership. Meanwhile, the sewage spills will continue until the matter is resolved,” said a source privy to the developments.
EMA provincial manager Mrs Chipo Mpofu-Zuze said the agency had been forced to seek legal recourse after the two authorities disregarded orders and ignored the $5 000 fine issued to them.
“The issue that we dragged them to court is that of pollution. We have tried to engage them. We even issued tickets to fix the untreated sewage spills but they did not comply. So this move is meant to push them to address the issue which has become a health time bomb. A docket was opened by the police after they failed to comply to an order which was accompanied by a fine,” said Mrs Mpofu-Zuze.
Hwange Residents Association (HRA) called on Zinwa to hand over management of both sewer and water systems arguing that it was long overdue and was seriously affecting the council service delivery.
“The handing over is long overdue, Zinwa should give full administration of water and sewer to HLB. We are greatly disturbed by the effluent flowing all over due to burst pipes and the failure by the water authority to address the issue over a long period of time. Currently Zinwa is the one that should incur costs of the sewer until such a time when it hands over sewer and water management as separating the two defies logic. It’s unfair that Zinwa is making a lot of money from running the water systems while they want council to shoulder the burden of managing sewer without the water,” said Fidelis Chuma, HRA coordinator.
