COWDRAY PARK residents have petitioned the Bulawayo City Council over pollution emanating from Ngozi Mine dumpsite which they say is threatening their health.
The concerned residents lodged their complaints with the council through the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR).
Ngozi Mine is a landfill site where council dumps refuse collected from various suburbs and the city centre.
There are more than 200 squatters who reside at the dumpsite raising concern over fire outbreaks that result in clouds of smoke with Cowdray Park residents irked by the development.
In a letter addressed to Bulawayo town clerk Christopher Dube and chamber secretary Sikhangele Zhou, the residents demanded that council must provide information on steps being taken to avert pollution from Ngozi Mine.
“As previously requested in terms of section 62 of the 2013 Constitution, may your office provide us with the information on what steps are being taken by council to address the toxic emissions emanating from Ngozi Mine dumpsite which is under the control and management of the City of Bulawayo,” the residents said.
“Furthermore, may you also avail to our client information on the measures that the City of Bulawayo in collaboration with other stakeholders has taken to provide for the effective management of waste at the Ngozi Mine dumpsite?”
The residents said it was almost a month since they wrote the initial letter, adding that reasonable time had passed for the town clerk to respond.
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“As such we hope to hear from your office as well as from the chamber secretary’s office copied herein within the next seven days to avoid us approaching the courts,” the letter read.
The letter was also copied to the Environmental Management Agency provincial manager for Bulawayo, mayor David Coltart, provincial affairs and devolution secretary Paul Nyoni.
The residents on October 30 this year wrote to Dube over pollution from the site.
The ZLHR said it was working under instruction from the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association which was concerned about the emission from burning waste at Ngozi Mine dumpsite.
“Our client through its local structures has previously been informed by personnel from City of Bulawayo during various community engagements in Cowdray Park that the fires are supposedly caused by those picking up recyclable material and are partaking in waste management to make a living,” the letter read.
“However, our client holds a firm belief that the frequency of the fires leading to clouds of toxic smokes that pollute the air, permeates homes and makes living in these houses a hazard to inhabitants’ health now flies in the face of enjoying a clean environment as enshrined in section 73(1)(a) and (b) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe.”
The lawyers said they had confirmation from residents, who constantly inhale polluted air, that some of them have started to suffer a serious respiratory challenge which adversely affects their well-being.
“Our clients are indeed mindful of the fact that these rights also require that the State must take reasonable legislative and any other measures within the limits of the resources available to it to achieve the progressive realisation of rights,” the lawyers wrote.
“However the proximity of the dumpsite to some of the homes in Cowdray Park and lack of appropriate management of the site shows that your office needs to seriously look at the issue and take concrete steps to address it as a matter of urgency to avoid further violation of human rights.”
The city has not responded to the petition.
