The Sunday News
Colin Moyo, Sunday News Reporter
RESIDENTS at MaNdebele Flats in Mpopoma, Bulawayo have castigated the Bulawayo City Council for its continuous failure to attend to sewer pipe bursts in the area, saying with the rains coming, they were at an increased risk of contaminating diseases.
The residents said it was a sad situation as when those living upstairs flush their toilets the sewage is discharged into the houses of those living on the ground floor.
“Sewage has been a challenge over the years. Our environment is no longer safe for our children as the effluent discharged by the sewer pipes has become a breeding area for mosquitoes and the smell is so unbearable,” said Mr Vusa Ncube, one of the residents in Mpopoma.
“We have been making reports to council for many years but they have failed to fix the problem.”
Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association coordinator Mr Emmanuel Ndlovu said the residents will arrange a meeting with the council in order to resolve the issue.
“We have engaged the engineer on the Matshobana issue and he said he will get back to us. Mpopoma has had plumbing issues whereby flushing on the top floor causes flooding on the doorsteps of the flats on the ground floor.
Residents, as the occupants, felt it was their responsibility to resolve the issue. However, the local authority advised that they would fix the problem as the flats are council property.
They further advised residents to buy new chambers six years ago, in which they did but to this day council still hasn’t taken any action to resolve the matter despite residents honouring their side of the agreement.
“The residents will engage in a meeting with the council to resolve the issue of dilapidated sewer pipes which are now disposing effluent on their door steps,” said Mr Ndlovu.
Bulawayo Ward 9 that covers Mpopoma, Councillor Frank Javangwe said recently he went with the Town Clerk, Mr Christopher Dube to MaNdebele Flats to look into the matter.
“Last week we went to MaNdebele Flats and Matshobana with the Town Clerk, Mr Christopher Dube. On the broken pipes the council is working on repairing the dilapidated sewer pipes.
The residents who are able to buy tools to fix pipes can also report to the council once they have bought the tools so that council workers can come fix the sewer pipes,” said Clr Jawangwe.
Clr Javangwe said the council will forward the grievances to the engineering department which is responsible for fixing the sewer system.
“We spoke to the engineering department last year when we had sewer problems in Matshobana-Mpopoma. They have since been working to rectify the problem. However, the repairs require a lot of money as they might need replacement of pipes,” he said.
