ZIMBABWE INDEPENDENT

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10 Zimbabwe independent august 1 to 7, 2014 feature Things fall further apart in Chi-Town Wongai ZhangaZha DRIVING through one of Chitungwiza’s suburbs, Zengeza 3 Extension, the smell of raw sewage is sharp and the rancid stench hits you in the face just as you enter the suburb. Sewage flows from manholes onto the dusty streets creating streams, with swarms of flies hovering over the raw affluent which has become a common sight in many high-density suburbs. To make the situation more tolerable, concerned residents pushing wheel barrows of sand could be seen trying to temporarily cover the flowing sewage, but it is a losing battle. “This is the only way we can protect ourselves to a limited extent,” said an angry resident who identified himself as Munamato. “Since we started reporting these sewage leaks to council in February, there has been no improvement. Today (Wednesday) we have gone to report again at council’s works department and they said they will come to attend to the problem, but we know they will not.” Just close to the flowing raw sewage is a deserted borehole that used to service residents from as far as Zengeza 1 and 2. “We are afraid to fetch water from there as we believe it’s contaminated and not safe to drink. But who cares about how we live. We have been living like this for so many years and the strike by council workers has only worsened our woes,” adds Munamato. Chitungwiza, Harare’s teeming dormitory town, is a veritable health time bomb. Parts of Chitungwiza such as Unit K, P, G and Unit N have gone without running water for two weeks, while sections like Zengeza 1 and 2 have been receiving erratic supplies of water. Refuse has not been collected in some areas for more than a month, with huge garbage piles on street corners and choking potholed roads. In some parts of Seke as well as St Mary’s, raw sewage also flows on the streets as workers are not attending to burst pipes. Over a million residents in the town have lived with flowing raw sewage and water problems over a decade. During the 2008-2009 cholera epidemic, which killed about 4 000 people, the town was one of the hardest hit. Residents also have to contend with piles of uncollected garbage, dilapidated infrastructure and frequent power cuts. What has compounded an already dire situation is the strike by council workers. The workers downed their tools a month ago demanding outstanding salaries and allowances amounting to US$11 million accrued over 13 months. Although the workers have “resumed” work, they are on a goslow. During the strike, the workers turned away ratepayers claiming that if they paid their bills the money would be squandered by management. The Zimbabwe National Army had to be called in to help manage critical departments at Chitungwiza Town Council, particularly the health department whose clinics were unmanned after nursing staff downed tools leaving patients stranded. Despite Chitungwiza producing many prominent Zimbabweans including the finest musicians, evangelists and soccer players, the town has little to show for it. Health time bomb ... Raw sewage flows freely in Chitungwiza while a council truck approaches a garbage dump that threatens to cut off a street. Legendary musicians like the late John Chibadura and James Chimombe, System Tazvida, the Mahendere Brothers, Mechanic Manyeruke, Charles Charamba and his wife Olivia have all sprung from the dormitory town, famously known as Chi-Town, 25 kilometres south of Harare. Chitungwiza has also produced soccer stars such as Alois Bunjira, Stewart Murisa, Lloyd Mutasa, Lloyd Chitembwe, Frank Nyamukuta, Farai Jere and Norman Mapeza and charismatic evangelists like Emmanuel Makandiwa of the United Family International Church and Walter Magaya of Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries. The once thriving satellite town, established in the 1970s, is now a pale shadow of its past. So what has happened to Chitungwiza with such facilities as the Aquatic Complex, and the Town Centre which it once boasted of? Where is the satellite metropolitan and civic centre which were supposed to have been built in Seke and the railway line linking the town to Harare? Illegal residential settlements are mushrooming and crime is on the rise as unemployment reaches alarming levels in the town. The strike by council workers has made matters worse. A visit to Seke South council clinic in Unit L revealed a sorry state of affairs as council workers continued on a go-slow. A snaking queue of patients waiting to be served in the opportunistic infections department of the clinic was moving at a snail’s pace. A worker at the clinic who preferred anonymity told the Zimbabwe Independent that life was tough and they were anxiously awaiting the three months’ salary expected on July 31 as promised. “Morale is very low. Look at me. I am a nurse, but I am not even wearing my uniform to work and that says a lot. I am just coming to work because it’s better than staying at home. It’s by the grace of God that I am surviving,” said the council worker. “Most of my colleagues are surviving on selling odds and ends during working hours.” She said as health employees, they could not totally down their tools. “Some of these patients would have been booked already and turning them away would be cruel. The council should just give us our salaries so that we can work. We have shown a lot of commitment and patience despite the Workers are now reluctantly back at work after being threatened with a show cause order registered by the minister at the Labour Court, but the go-slow is obviously negatively affecting council operations and the delivery of essential services. tough times,” she said. Five babies were delivered by noon on Wednesday at the clinic. The Chitungwiza Progressive Residents Association programmes manager Admire Mutize this week said the collapse of service delivery in Chitungwiza accelerated just before last year’s harmonised polls when Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo gave a directive scrapping bills owed by residents. Said Mutize: “Workers are now reluctantly back at work after being threatened with a show cause order registered by the minister at the Labour Court, but the goslow is obviously negatively affecting council operations and the delivery of essential services.” He said before the strike municipal workers collected refuse on a weekly basis, but since resuming work, refuse collection has become erratic with some areas going for up to three weeks without service. On water supply, Mutize said some areas were receiving water once a week for only five hours and residents were now relying on untreated wells in their backyards, exposing themselves to water-borne diseases. Chitungwiza Town Clerk George Makunde on Wednesday said morale was still very low even though workers resumed work last week on Friday. Makunde said: “Workers are demoralised because they have not yet received their salaries. We are still working on the modalities and from where it’s coming from it is very possible that we will be able to pay them before the first of August.” He however denied that workers are on a go-slow. “They are just overwhelmed by the work backlog. You have to understand that these are people who missed six days of work. So reports of sewage blockages and bursts we have received are too many, not only in Zengeza Extension. Residents have to take cognisant of that though we are working flat out to solve the problems.” He said one of the reasons they could not pay the workers was because residents owed the town council US$28 million as from July 2013 after debts were written off on the orders of Chombo before elections last year.
ZiMbabwe independenT augusT 1 To 7, 2014 11 column A Daily News heading on Monday read “Grace Mugabe: Mutasa speaks.” Actually it was more like Mutasa Squeaks. “If the women have nominated Amai (First Lady), this means it is what they want,” he concluded. Is it? Or are they all worms and weevils who do what they are told? Come on Didymus, show us some backbone. All you jongwes are pathetic instruments of somebody else’s ambitions. And contrary to your claims, this is factionalism writ large. Mutasa wants to know what factionalism has to do with it. Well, how about the way you all fell over each other to demonstrate your loyalty to the Gushungo throne, a partisan loyalty with no depth. Mutasa trotted out the old mantra: “In any case there is no vacancy in the office of the president. It is occupied by Cde Mugabe.” Unashamed Then we had Transport minister Obert Mpofu boasting of his self-made millions. Is it sensible to advertisement this way? But it was good to see parliament gearing up to deal with Mpofu’s creature, Godwills Masimirembwa. Mpofu looked genuinely shocked when MPs made clear they didn’t share his confidence in the aspiring Mabvuku MP. James Maridadi led the charge and in so-doing provided a great advertisement for live TV. This is a reform that we can all endorse. Decision to endorse Grace Mugabe to lead the Zanu PF’s Women’s League is set to widen factional rifts MUCKRAKER Twitter: @MuckrakerZim “Masvingo Provincial Affairs minister Kudakwashe Bhasikiti ... has called on government to construct a bigger hospital ... that victims can quickly access medical attention. Has it not occurred to him to campaign for better driving instead of bigger hospitals?” shoRt And swEEt ... Zanu PF entrenching Mugabe dictatorship The endorsement of Grace Mugabe to become Zanu PF Women’s League boss testifies that nothing new is emanating from the corridors of power. It is the norm that Mugabe sneezes and the ruling party catches cold. not even a single top official in the upper echelons of power can stand up to express dissent and President Robert Mugabe is aware of that. The choice of Grace is hardly the best Zanu PF has ever made in its political history — she does not possess the acumen required of an accomplished politician. even when Pathetic tools backing political ambition she addressed the Women’s League in Mazowe, her voice, contrasted with that of the outgoing secretary Oppah Muchinguri, was less convincing. Without doubt she is simply serving to entrench the ideology that Mugabe is Zanu PF and for one to survive within the circles of power, he/she must sing and dance for him. This exhibits dictatorship that has been part of Zimbabwe since Independence, where fellow cadres who differed with Mugabe were sacked. now the so-called political stalwarts are forced to comply in what they don’t believe! We wouldn’t however support the deputy speaker. She intervened too often and unecessarily. A Commonwealth journey to Australia and Westminster would show us how it’s done: Robust but even-handed. Actually the Australians in their house in Canberra are much ruder than anybody else. Feeling the heat SOuTh Africa is experiencing the consequences of the deranged Julius Malema in their Gauteng assembly. he has been booted out of the chamber for wearing — along with his followers — bright red overalls. he has not done justice to the chance he had at the opening session of the new Gauteng legislature to explain his party’s policies. his critics say it would have been better to ignore him than let him become a martyr to his boiler-suit cause! his followers have also been involved in riotous demonstrations. They broke into the chamber and ate the food supplied for MPs of all parties, not just Malema’s gang. Sunday Times columnist Sthembiso Msomi says the eFF’s gains in support over the past year EFF leader Julius Malema could be squandered if it continues the indefensible tactics it used to protest against the dress code. Incompatible TheRe are two other things that need our attention this week. It is a sign of a fawning society without intelligent direction that leads MPs and others to compare Grace Mugabe with Mother Theresa. We really don’t need their praise-singing. There is enough of that already. Mother Theresa in India was widely respected and liked. As a result she was listened to by ordinary Indians. Can the same be said of Zimbabwe’s politicians? Keep off One of those, Masvingo Provincial Affairs minister Kudakwashe Bhasikiti thinks there should be improvements along the Masvingo road. he has called on government to construct a bigger hospital near the Masvingo highway so that accident victims can quickly access medical attention. has it not occurred to him to campaign for better driving instead of bigger hospitals? Most of Zimbabwe’s accidents take place at night and involve poor driving skills. Many are head on. The Zimbabwe independent has called on the public not to drive at night. It is a suicide note to family and friends. Drivers are often competing with livestock for road space. Keep off the road at night. That is our message.
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