Residents dump garbage at council offices

RESIDENTS of Harare's Hatfield suburb yesterday dumped garbage outside council's district offices in protest over poor service delivery.

"We have come with our garbage here as we are tired of trying to manage our waste disposal yet the City of Harare bills us every month," Hatfield Residents Association chairperson Shakie Mushambi said.

"The council has been neglecting its duties for a long time. Usually garbage collection is supposed to be done four times a month, but there are times when we can go for months without getting service."

The association's vice-chairperson Charles Hwandi said the area had been neglected for long, hence the decision to take their grievances to council offices.

"We want to see if they will collect the garbage dumped here today (yesterday) or if they will continue to give the same old excuses. And if they don't keep their collection timetables, we will continue with this exercise, maybe then they can hear us out," he said.

Council spokesperson Michael Chideme said citizens had a right to lodge a complaint with the local authority.

"It is their democratic right to protest like that and we are addressing the issue," Chideme said last night.

The protest came shortly after the local authority took delivery of 10 new refuse compactors, five skip trucks and one front-end loader to scale up waste collection.