Kasukuwere warns Bulawayo City Council

MINISTER of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Saviour Kasukuwere has warned Bulawayo City Council over the continued pollution of Umguza River.

Speaking during a briefing with Bulawayo City Councillors recently, Kasukuwere, who previously held the Environment, Water and Climate portfolio in Cabinet, gave the local authority up to the end of the year to stop the pollution of the river.

BCC has previously been heavily fined by the Environmental Management Agency for polluting Umguza River by discharging raw sewage into the water body.

"The pollution of Umguza River is a matter that is taking too long to be rectified. I remember when I was the Minister of Environment, I had to penalise you but surprisingly more than a year later this matter is still to be addressed.

"You might think that since I'm now your Minister I should be defending you but I cannot allow this to continue, I am giving you until the end of this year to address this matter.

"The local authority must realise that while they might think this is a small issue, they must think of people who rely on this water who are downstream who rely on this water for their everyday lives, it is cruelty on the part of the local authority," he said.

Last year Bulawayo City Council was ranked as the city's biggest polluter with the local authority's obsolete and malfunctioning sewer said to be continuously discharging untreated effluent into the city's water bodies and environment.

Environmental Management Agency (EMA) provincial manager for Bulawayo Mr Decent Ndlovu last week told Sunday News that his organisation was slowly losing patience with the local authority over the pollution of Umguza River.

He said EMA was beginning to doubt BCC's sincerity in stopping the discharge of raw sewage into the river, as the local authority had gone for a year without fixing its sewage treatment plant, despite having borrowed money for the undertaking.

"We are worried that it is almost a year now since they gave us a commitment that they would fix the problem. They were given the greenlight by Government to borrow, which they did but up to now we are not seeing any progress. They continue discharging raw sewage into the river.

"As EMA we are not happy with council because it seems they are now using the money for other areas, negating the commitment they made to fix their sewer which is causing a lot of pollution," said Mr Ndlovu.

Bulawayo City Council last year secured a $12 million loan which was expected to go a long way in revamping the city's water and sewerage reticulation systems.

Early last year, farmers dependent on Umguza River and water sources near the river were ordered by EMA to stop using the water source for their agricultural activities while boreholes next to the river were also sealed.

Villagers living along the river were also banned from digging wells and sinking boreholes.

This followed discovery that the water contained high levels of metals and other pollutants that can cause chronic illnesses.

Sometime in 2012 Bulawayo City Council was fined $5 000 by EMA, while a number of companies were fined up to $1 000 for environmental crimes that result in the pollution of Umguza River.

Mr Ndlovu said EMA has in the past fined and issued orders against the local authority, but has since taken a new approach of engagement, which he said promises to yield better results.

Mr Ndlovu said most companies in the city, which were previously fined or issued with orders had made significant progress in complying with EMA regulations, with Bulawayo City Council remaining as one of the few entities that continued to pollute the environment.

Last year EMA issued orders to various abattoirs and 58 fuel service stations in the city who were operating without oil interceptors and treatment plants.