Youths reclaim Mabelreign dumpsite

HARARE West member of Parliament, Ms Joana Mamombe, the City of Harare and a newly established car wash at Mabelreign Shopping Centre have partnered to get the borehole in Mabelreign Park solar powered functional. This is to enable residents and vendors access water from it.

Diana Nherera Suburban Reporter

Youths in the suburb who recently established a car wash project behind Mabelreign Clinic mooted the idea to have the solar-powered borehole, install taps for the convenience of residents and vendors  who will be drawing water from the borehole.

Before the taps were installed, there was a bush pump.

The youths set up the car  wash camp at a place that used to be a dumpsite.

Public toilets at the shopping centre are now functional as water from the solar-powered borehole is now accessible.

Mabelreign Park will also soon be beautified as a result of  plants and flowers that have been planted in the park.

Ms Mamombe said the borehole in the park was drilled in 2019 using the Constituency Development Fund (CDF).

“It had a manual pump so it wasn’t serving the residents effectively.

“Most of the people benefiting from the water source are mostly women as it was a burden for them using manual ways to access the water.

“So now this initiative, as you are seeing — it’s now solar powered and because of the solar power, water is being pumped into the tank then from the tank — to  these taps,” she said.

The Harare West MP said they also intend to install more taps depending on the need and demand for water.

“Mabelreign Shopping Centre is quite big. We have people coming in and our mothers selling vegetables at the market.

“We also have citizens who are doing businesses around the shopping centre. So the idea is to make sure that we place a lot of taps so that water is accessible to all the residents who are coming around the shops.”

She said council public toilets had been closed for two months due to non-availability of water.

“But now we are going to reopen the toilets so that our mums who are selling vegetables can have access to clean water and clean toilets using the flushing system because the water has been connected.

Ms Mamombe said Mabelreign Park was also serving residents.

“You can actually see a number of young people who are coming into Mabelreign Park — meaning to say this is one of the significant symbols of our constituency particularly in Mabelreign.

“A lot of young people, some students just come to sit under the trees to discuss their homework in Mabelreign Park. And I’m sure they also need access to toilets and access to clean water. And, we also want to see beautification of this park. This is why this initiative is going to benefit the park as well.

“You see all these young kids playing in the park, it is one of the significant sites that we have in Mabelreign, just for resting, where people can come in, they meet, they have their conversations.”

She commended the youths who established a car park at the place that used to be a dumpsite saying the area had become an eyesore.

“I remember an outcry on social media concerning that part, residents on our Whatsapp groups, in the office, it was an  almost every day issue.

“It was painful to see our women struggling as they were trying to sell vegetables, no customers were coming to buy because of the unsightly  dumpsite. It was really filthy,” said Ms Mamombe.

She said she was proud of the youths who came up with the idea of reclaiming the dumpsite and established a car wash.

“So there is a group of young people that came up with this initiative and I’m also proud as the local representative to say leading the young people who are coming up with initiatives of reclaiming the dumpsites, cleaning our environment and also bringing these initiatives where we can provide clean water to citizens,” said Ms Mamombe.

She said the youths who established the car wash project have put up a container instead of a permanent structure.

“Instead of putting permanent structures, that also destabilise the underground water system, we are encouraging these semi-permanent structures instead of putting bricks and mortar which can be removed anytime, which is good for the environment.”

She said the solar panels for the borehole were installed on the roof of the container used as a car wash.

“These are small initiatives that we should do as local representatives partner with the young people in the community.

“This is a very good initiative so there is a need for young people to come together to bridge the gap if there is one in service delivery. We know it’s not good to be drilling boreholes everywhere but it is a solution to bring water to our people who do not have it.”

The MP said plans are underway to also clean Marlborough Civic Centre which has also become                               unsightly.

“We want to go around the constituency. We want to go to Marlborough Civic Centre which has also become an eyesore in terms of outlook and the dilapidation of infrastructure.

“We are working with different corporates and young people. We embrace those kind of initiatives and we like to thank all the young people who are coming to our offices to share their ideas.”

Ms Mamombe urged residents to feel free to visit the councillor’s or MP’s office with ideas for community projects.

Vendors operating from the vicinity welcomed the availability of water and reopening of public toilets.

“We sell fruits and vegetables and it’s difficult when there is no water and it’s unhygienic. This was resulting in loss of customers because of the smell that was coming from the dumpsite.

“We had to pay men to fetch water for us from the bush pump as we couldn’t use pump the water ourselves,” said Mrs Chirere, one of the vendors.