Burst sewer causes uproar in Lobengula West
Women from Women’s Advocacy Committees on Saturday mobilised the community to interface with the local councilor MacDonald Chunga demanding accountability on what he did during his term of office.
The meeting was held at Lobengula Community Hall on Saturday 17 March 2018, supported by the Women’s Institute for Leadership Development (WILD)
Councillor Chunga said he has repaired streetlights and has escalated efforts to reopen the Lobengula Clinic for community use.
The clinic was established 15 years ago and is being run as a male circumcision centre.
Councillor Chunga said the Bulawayo City Council has finally agreed to allocate funds in the next council budget towards the resuscitation and operationalization of the clinic. If open to the public, at least 86 532 citizens from the 7 211 properties will benefit.
Residents said sewer reticulation was poor in the suburb citing a number of burst pipes and open pits within the area.
After the meeting, WILD staff, Ward Advocacy Committee members, local community women and the Councillor visited the site where a pit had been dug to fix the sewer pipeline.
At least six houses in Lobengula West’s Emkhayeni area are affected by a burst sewer manhole where sewer has been spewing across the yard, with a strong stench engrossing the neighbourhood since December 2017.
One of the women Sithembile Ndebele said she has banned her child from playing outside the house. The manhole located in her home “persistently bursts and sewer waste has been spewing within my yard and the stench is unbearable.” Another woman Catherine Ndlovu said she was forced to vacate her children to her rural home as they ignorantly played with sewer waste posing a serious health hazard.
Councilor chunga promised to rectify the matter with urgency citing that if left unattended, it would cause a deadly cholera outbreak.
He also said that the sewer system was initially constructed to service households with fewer family members but with the surge of rural-urban migration, families have increased and this is why the sewer line is always dysfunctional.
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