Suburban
Residents of Wards 7 and 9 are complaining of lack of communication by the City of Harare on the days they will be collecting refuse resulting in the compactors leaving a lot of rubbish behind.
Diana Nherera Suburban Reporter
A resident of Cornwall Road in Avondale West said he was lucky enough to have heard the compactor on Monday and managed to take out his garbage as they came unannounced.
“I was nearly ‘ambushed’ just now!! Luckily I was at home, heard the truck and managed to catch them just in time,” said the resident.
Another resident said the compactor never stopped to collect the piling garbage on West Road in Avondale.
“Truck drove down West Road at 2pm.
“I passed it heading down towards Lomagundi Road.
“So much rubbish on West Road alone and never stopped to collect one bag…,” said another resident of Ward 7.
The residents said failure to communicate by the City of Harare was leading to a waste of resources as the refuse trucks just speed past suburbs without collecting all the garbage.
A resident of Queen Elizabeth Road in Greendale urged the city to improve their communication and when there are changes to the collection days so that residents can be prepared.
The resident said the compactor just passed by their road.
He said the city is wasting ratepayers’ money yet they are being paid for that service by the same residents.
Another resident said the truck drove past Hampshire Road made a U-turn and “vanished”.
The refuse truck also sped past Cunningham Road by the time some residents got to the gate, the truck was already gone, a resident from the street said.
“They hoot passing by so by the time you get to the gate they are gone.
“Before, they used to hoot loudly you could hear them long before they came to your street and you get prepared,” she said.
Residents also said the compactors sometimes only collect rubbish from households where they are given a tip either in the form of money or food.
“They have a few friends who give them kick-backs so they only silently drive to their gates and whistle so that they are not heard by others.
“That’s why they sometimes don’t hoot. Those (tipping waste collectors) who are doing this in particular, some live in complexes,” said a resident.
He urged the ratepayers tipping council workers to desist from the practice as it is disadvantaging others.
Most suburbs are going for between two weeks to a month without refuse collection.
Presently council has 22 refuse compactors working but they are not adequate to cover the city’s 46 wards, business premises and institutions. Until recently it had 16 trucks and brought six more back on the road. As a result, the municipality is collecting garbage on a fortnightly basis instead of weekly.
Minutes of the city’s latest Environmental Management Committee meeting say a door to door refuse collection blitz programme will ensure residential areas have refuse collection every two weeks to minimise illegal dumping but the strategy is not working.
