A HARARE resident has given City of Harare (CoH) a 24 hour ultimatum to remove a refuse dumpsite in Mbare, which is menace to residents in one of the capital city’s oldest suburbs.
In a letter of demand written to CoH by Shyline Makaripe, who resides in Mbare suburb in Harare, the resident, asked the local authority to immediately remove the refuse dump, which has collected at Mbare Musika within 24 hours and to stop its employees from dumping garbage at the gate of Mbare Musika including cleaning and disinfecting the whole area.
Makaripe, who is represented by Paidamoyo Saurombe of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, bemoaned the lack of commitment by the local authority to collect refuse and stop the health hazard that it paused and went on to disclose that her mother Juliet Chatambudza, had succumbed to cholera on 3 January 2024 at Beatrice Road Infectious Disease Hospital in Harare.
The Mbare resident, who is the daughter of the late Juliet Chatambudza, who up until her death due to cholera on 3 January 2024, had filed an application at the Harare High Court in May 2022 seeking to compel CoH to collect refuse that had accumulated on her doorstep, which was adjacent to Mbare Musika, bemoaned the lack of commitment by the local authority to collect refuse and stop the health hazard that it paused.
Makaripe protested that although in its response to Chatambudza’s application, the local authority, had steadfastly indicated that it would remove refuse and provide bins for residents, it had not done so up until Chatambudza unfortunately succumbed to death in January 2024, as a result of her worst fear, cholera, which the family blamed on the local authority’s failure to collect refuse in the suburb.
CoH, Makaripe said, had turned a deaf ear to residents’ pleas to collect refuse from the suburb, despite diligently collecting rates from residents that include a refuse collection fee.
Makaripe indicated that she is living in fear together with other residents whose health is at risk from a situation that is avoidable if only CoH conducts its statutory duty of removing refuse.
CoH, Makaripe said, had neglected its statutory obligation to remove refuse from the high density suburb, which amounts to inhuman and degrading treatment of not only herself and her siblings but all Mbare residents who are affected.
Makaripe warned that in the event that CoH does not comply with her demand, she will institute legal proceedings against the local authority to protect her rights to dignity, health and life.
ENDS
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
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