Gwanda Residents issue Municipality 24 hour ultimatum

Residents of Gwanda Town have issued the Municipality of Gwanda a 24 hour ultimatum to assure them if asbestos dust being spread on council roads and inside Senondo Primary School grounds is safe to be used in a human settlement.

In a letter written to the Town Clerk and copied to the Mayor, vice chairman of the Gwanda Residents Association Mr Obert Nkomo said that his committee was served with a 48 hour ultimatum by residents to report back to them with an assurance that the gravel was safe. In consequent, the Residents Association sent the matter to Council with a 24 hour ultimatum.

Rumours making rounds in the town and scaring residents are that council has been collecting a highly chemical infected gravel from near by Tshindeni Mine and spreading it on the roads and more shockingly on the grounds of a primary school in the area.

All roads in ward 9 of the town have been covered with the gravel with reliable information indicating that the project is on going and is likely to be spread into other wards.

Reports coming through from the town are that the gravel that is being brought into the town was previously condemned by environmental experts and council ordered to stop using it. Council had previously used the gravel to resurface a road in the town about two years ago and the road was condemned as unfit to be used because of chemical contamination in the gravel.

The very neatly done road passing through the VID depot has been closed off for use since then and council has been ordered to scratch off the surface and re do the whole road.

The letter made available to press was received by the Town Clerk and Mayor's offices at 16:hours on Thursday meaning the deadline will be end of day Friday. Reliable sources within council however indicate that the entire council management, the Mayor and his deputy will all be out of town for the next 7 days starting tomorrow. This leaves behind a very tricky situation as the residents vowed that they want their reply by end of day Friday otherwise council will be "faced with a mass protest from the residents".

Immediate comment could not be sort from the Town Clerk nor the Mayor. However, information from sources within council claim that the councillor of the ward concerned Mr Thulani Moyo did the road works in his own capacity and using his own equipment without consulting council management nor getting a council resolution to do the works.

Meanwhile, the residents of the ward concerned have called for an urgent meeting to be held at the same primary school on Sunday afternoon. According to a spokesperson for the residents, high on the agenda will the issue of the gravel and finding a way forward with a hope that council will have by then issued a reply on the residents' concerns.