The Sunday Mail
Sharleen Mohammed
GOVERNMENT will be forced to step in if the Harare City Council (HCC) fails to address the capital city’s poor drainage system.
Poor and blocked storm-water drains have been causing artificial flash floods in Harare’s central business district (CBD) and high-density suburbs, exposing residents to waterborne diseases and road accidents.
Flooding on roads also usually causes congestion.
Council, however, blames residents and vendors for clogging drains in the CBD.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail, Local Government and Public Works Permanent Secretary Mr Zvinechimwe Churu said the Government would be duty-bound to intervene if council fails to carry out its mandate.
“It is important to underscore that where local authority failures are experienced, as is the case with solid waste management in Harare, Central Government will not hesitate to intervene through legal instruments that are available,” he said.
“Failure by Central Government to do so would be a serious abrogation of its responsibilities to the general public. Such interventions should be viewed in positive light and be a wake-up call for the concerned local authorities to address their governance and administrative systems.”
Harare Residents Trust executive director Mr Precious Shumba said clearing drains should not be regarded as a seasonal event but an ongoing process of improving road infrastructure.
“The current excuses by the City of Harare only show the magnitude of incompetence and poor performance by their respective office bearers. HCC has excess manpower that they can reassign to clear the drainages as part of their regular duties.”
He urged HCC to educate the public on best practices of waste management to avoid blocking the drainage systems.
Town planner Mr Terence Machisa said: “Most of our drainage systems, both in the CBD and residential areas, are always blocked due to litter or lack of maintenance, hence regular maintenance and servicing of our drainage systems can help in reducing flooding.
“Council should improve its street-cleaning services as well as provide more litter-dropping points and refuse collection in residential areas, as failure to do so has resulted in residents dumping waste everywhere, even in drainage systems.”
Harare mayor Jacob Mafume said they are making progress in addressing the challenge.
“We have deployed our teams to quickly react to the scourge of clogged storm-water drains so as to ensure a smooth flow of water, especially now that we are in the rainy season.
“A lot of construction has happened in the city, so we will come up with a better plan to deal with this matter and do away with recurring incidents,” he said.
