Poor drainage system blights Bulawayo CBD

BULAWAYO residents' associations have expressed concern over the city's poor drainage system, especially in the Central Business District, which is being worsened by undesignated vending operations and littering.

Due to the clogged drainage system, the city centre is prone to flash flooding, which exposes motorists and pedestrians to hazards as well as damage to the road infrastructure.

Under the BCC by-law, Part VIII of the Roads Act (Chapter 13:18), owners, occupiers or users of any land are obliged to take all reasonable steps to ensure that, water is not prevented, obstructed or impeded from draining into, onto, under or through their land from a public road.

A snap survey conducted by a Chronicle news crew yesterday revealed that there was rampant littering in the city centre mainly on streets with major vending activities such as Sixth Avenue and vegetable market side.

A lot of this litter and garbage finds its way into the drainage system while some vendors also have a habit of stashing their wares and waste on the drainage system.

In separate interviews, residents' associations said it was unfair to blame the city council alone for clogged drainage system.
Bulawayo Residents' Association (BPRA) chairperson, Mr Ambrose Sibindi, said council cannot be entirely blamed as residents also contribute to the problem through littering.

"Most areas of blocked drainages in town are usually places with a lot of vendors and the continued littering in those areas is a serious problem towards poor drainage," he said.

He also criticised council for engaging contractors who do substandard work in reclaiming the drainage system.

"Most of these companies that are given contracts to maintain drainages do highly unprofessional work whose duration is short lived, thus giving us a perennial drainage challenge," said Mr Sibindi.

Bulawayo United Residents' Association (Bura) leader, Mr Winos Dube said the state of poor drainage system in the CBD causes serious damage to roads, which in turn endanger lives of both commuters and pedestrians.

"As long as we are still irresponsible residents, the issue of damaged roads in the CBD will always affect our roads," he said.
"Mitigating any social issue needs us to come together as community members because pointing fingers will not take us anywhere.

"Most of the times when we experience these flash floods, pedestrians suffer more because they endure being splashed by water and most of these potholes are a result of stagnant water on our roads," he said.

The councillor for Ward One, which covers Bulawayo CBD, who is also the Deputy Mayor for Bulawayo, Clr Mlandu Ncube, also expressed concern over the continued littering by vendors and other members of the public saying this affects the drainage system in the CBD.

"We usually clear the drainage at the beginning of November annually because we are aware of these drainage challenges.
"However, there is a challenge that other members of our society can't get over the habit of carelessly throwing litter everywhere.

"We currently have teams moving around clearing litter from drainages but we can never achieve the goal of having good drainage as long as other people don't want to complement council's efforts," he said.