City of Harare dragged to court over blocked sewer pipes

The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) has filed an urgent court application to force the City of Harare repair and unblock sewage pipes.

The ZLHR says the move is in its bid to ensure that communities in Harare’s suburbs of Budiriro, Glenview, New Tafara and Mabvuku live in an environment that is not harmful to their health and the well being of the people.

“In our bid to ensure that communities in Harare’s suburbs of Budiriro, Glenview, New Tafara and Mabvuku live in an environment that is not harmful to the health and well being of people, we filed an urgent application to compel to repair & unblock sewage pipes,” says ZLHR.

In its application, ZLHR lawyer Tinashe Chinox also asked the High Court to issue an order cordoning off areas affected by sewage effluent within 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the issue of poor service delivery in Harare has become common in recent years. In most cases, children have been seen playing with sewage water.

This has been putting the health of residents in danger of contracting waterborne diseases like typhoid and cholera.

The Zimbabwean government’s response to the cholera outbreak was characterized by denial, neglect, and cover-up.

Apparently, there has been a blame game with the central government over the years blaming it on the local government, which are predominantly run by opposition parties and vice versa.

Between 2008 and 2009, over 100,000 people in the country fell ill with cholera. It was Africa’s worst cholera epidemic in 15 years.

-Zwnews