Suburban
A GREENDALE resident who was caught dumping garbage on an open area in the suburb has been $100 000 after residents, who are on a campaign to curb illegal dumping, exposed her and reported her to the Environmental Management Agency (EMA).
Peter Tanyanyiwa Suburban Reporter
Greendale residents have launched a campaign against illegal dumping where they take pictures of litterbugs and report them to EMA.
Most of the litterbugs load their rubbish into cars and take it to open spaces to dump it and residents have been taking pictures of the cars and their registration numbers for use to track the litterbugs.
The residents have resolved to police their neighbourhood and help to keep it clean as they step up the fight against illegal dumping.
The residents are taking charge of their community as they are fighting against rubbish dumping in an effort to keep their suburb clean and maintain the value of their properties.
Community leader and resident Mr Brian Shenje who has been pushing for development in Ward 9 said upon follow-ups, the woman who was photographed dumping litter during the festive season was finally found and fined.
He said the other two litterbugs are still being looked for as their vehicles seem to be registered in other people’s names.
There was no change of ownership when they bought the cars and Mr Shenje appealed to the authorities to speed up such processes for the sake of progress in tracking criminal activities.
“EMA contacted one of the people involved in dumping and she has since been fined $100 000. The other two are still to be traced. It highlights the issue of vehicles for which ownership isn’t changed.
“One wonders why the Ministry of Transport and ZIMRA don’t just give a moratorium on fees for changing ownership followed by instituting a penalty to the seller for not notifying whenever they dispose of a car. This would be in the best interests of the country,” said Mr Shenje.
The City of Harare has been failing to effectively collect refuse resulting in most suburbs being plagued by illegal dumping sites that could potentially lead to an outbreak of waterborne diseases such as typhoid and cholera particularly during the ongoing rainy season.
