Operation Chenesa Harare clears 80 garbage dumps

More than 80 illegal garbage dumps have been cleared so far under the operation dubbed Chenesa Harare, an Environmental Management Agency (EMA) official has said.

In an interview with New Ziana, EMA Harare Metropolitan environmental manager, Leon Mutungamiri said as of Thursday, at least l4 097.73 tons of refuse had been removed from the Central Business District as well as Kuwadzana, Dzivarasekwa, Southerton, Highfield and Mbare suburbs.

The government embarked on the cleanup exercise on January 7 to restore Harare’s “sunshine’ city status and stem the raging tide of a cholera outbreak currently gripping the city, prompting the activation of the Civil Protection Act which mandates action to be taken on environmental pollution and the disruption of essential services.

Mutungamiri said to ensure future sustainability, City of Harare compactor trucks are being fixed by the Central Mechanical Department (CMED) to capacitate the council management with equipment to continue with scheduled refuse collection and prevent the recurrence of illegal dumps.

The capital city saw a spike in cases of the medieval disease with 252 new suspected cases and 5 deaths recorded after the Christmas and New Year festivities with 16 laboratory confirmed cases, according to Dr Prosper Chonzi, the health services director.

At least 57 districts have reported cholera cases countrywide since the outbreak of the disease, which has had 15 137 recorded suspected cases, 1 759 confirmed cases, 14 578 recoveries, 67 confirmed and 266 suspected deaths.

The first cholera outbreak was reported on February 12 last year in Chegutu town, about 100 km west of the capital.

New Ziana