GREATER Hwange Residents Trust and Zimbabwe Power Company workers have petitioned the Matabeleland North provincial Environmental Management Agency (EMA) seeking the release of information regarding the pollution from Hwange Thermal Power Station of Ingagula township amid fears of serious possible human health hazard.
The residents petitioned EMA through the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and handed the petition to the agency’s provincial manager Chipo Mpofu-Zuze.
The lawyers said Ingagula township was located close to the thermal power station, which recently had Units 7 and 8 commissioned.
“Our clients advise that since the commissioning of the two units, air quality levels in Ingagula township and the surrounding areas has deteriorated and there are growing cases of poor health being caused by air pollution from the emissions of the power generating stations,” the residents said.
“Our clients are concerned that the right of the residents to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being in terms of section 73(1)(a) of the Constitution is being violated.”
The lawyers further noted that the right protected in section 73 places a duty on the State to prevent pollution through legislative and other measures.
“In terms of the law, we are aware that for any operations of such magnitude to commence, in any area in Zimbabwe, your office is supposed to be informed and plays a crucial role as a regulatory authority in assessing and determining whether such an operation should commence and to ensure that the operation will not in any way harm the environment and the communities residing in the particular area,” the lawyers wrote.
“We advise that our clients have the right to environmental information in terms of section 4(b) of the Environmental Management Act [Chapter 20:27]. As such, we have been instructed as we hereby do to request that you furnish us within seven days of your receipt of this letter the environmental impact assessment report concluded prior to the completion of Units 7 and 8, the conditions on the permitted emissions in the emissions licence for the power station issued in terms of sections 64 and 65 of the Act.”
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They also requested that EMA carries out investigations into the air pollution caused by the power generating station in terms of section 63(1)(b) of the Act and provide them with the recent ambient air sampling results for Hwange town with specific emphasis on Ingagula township and surrounding areas.
EMA is yet to respond to the petition.
