Commutalk Reporter
GWERU: Following an uproar over the non-collection of garbage in the City of Gweru, Mayor Hamutendi Kombayi recently came out pleading in a WhatsApp audio sent to several groups saying if contracts with independent contractors have failed, donkey carts should be considered for collecting garbage.
Gweru is looking forward to holding the Midlands Agricultural Show this week which makes it more vulnerable to disease outbreaks considering the hyped activity, the Mayor has predicted.
“We have got an alert of a disease outbreak so we need to unite and carry out a robust clean-up campaign. I have already ordered that the roads department’s tipper and front-end loader be assigned to the health department.
“We also want management to think outside the box because of you fail to reach agreements with contracted trucks, get young men with donkey carts so that after they do their firewood business, they in return carry away refuse,” Kombayi said.
“As the commander in chief of Gweru Municipal Police, I command that the Chamber Secretary that he lets people who sell firewood on carts go free and in return, they carry garbage on behalf of the council. Let us do this, let us clean Gweru, especially for the coming event in our town (Midlands Agricultural Show),” he added.
Most Gweru locations have now gone for more than a month without garbage collection as the council communicated that their refuse trucks are all down and being attended to.
Council spokesperson Vimbai Chingwaramusee has however said the refuse trucks have since been serviced and back on the road. She also highlighted that they wish to adopt a new refuse collection strategy going forward to save the trucks from continued breakdowns.
“The trucks have since been serviced and back on the road. We are resuming refuse collection as soon as possible.
“Going forward, we however wish to adopt a new refuse collection strategy where all garbage is collected from one point in all locations. The strategy will see private contractors collecting and bringing garbage to one point of collection and our trucks will collect it from one dotted point. This will serve us from unnecessary breakdowns,” Chingwaramusee said.
Sources within the townhouse have told CommuTalk that the trucks which were usually serviced at Dully’s had been down for long as they were blocked from going to their traditional workshop on allegations of underhand deals as the council resorted to using their workshop for the servicing.
A council update, however, said the city fathers had collected garbage from Lundi Park, Southdowns, Southview and the Central Business District by the morning and expected to go to Mkoba 1,6 and 11 in the afternoon.
Dump sites at Showground Area, Mtapa Shops and Ascot Shops were also being cleared.