Kudzanai vendors complain over poor waste management

GWERU – Vendors operating at Kudzanai bus terminus have pleaded with Gweru City Council to
improve its waste management system following reports of uncollected garbage.
Supervisor for Kudzanai Bus terminus Nelson Majoni said the local authority should increase its
efforts on refuse collection indicating that increased waste located just outside the terminus
entrance is exposing lives of vendors to diseases such as cholera and typhoid.
We have a situation whereby council placed bins at the vendors’ entrance gate and due to delays
by the council to collect refuse there, the amount of waste has increased rapidly and (is now)
blocking the entrance such that customers are no longer able to pass through to the vendors’ stalls,
he said.
Majoni urged council to relocate the bins and place them away from the entrance and vendors’ stalls
so that the terminus is kept clean and people are not exposed to diseases.
Owing to councils delays in collecting the waste, street kids are now burning the garbage to find
warmth during the night, thereby causing air pollution.
Apart from that, ordinary citizens are also using the site as a toilet and this gives a bad reputation
to the newly opened bus terminus. We therefore, plead with council to address the situation in time
so that the rank can operate successfully, said Majoni.
He said council needs to increase the number of bins at the bus terminus, so that the problem of
over-spilling waste is solved.
In an interview with one of the vendors, Farai Nyakuraiwa said council should collect refuse on time.
''The waste located just outside our entrance produces a bad smell and its affecting us at our place
of work because our customers are not impressed with buying goods at a place which smells bad.
There are also diseases such as cholera and typhoid which comes as a result of improper waste
management, said Nyakuraiwa.
Council spokesperson Vimbai Chingwaramusee said the council’s policy is to collect refuse in the CBD
daily, however because of limited resources this has not been possible.
We have seen the problem at our terminus and as planned we shall make sure that refuse
collection at the site is intensified so that our city is kept clean.
Chingwaramusee urged the public to gather waste and put in bins allocated to them by council and
not to litter everywhere as it causes land pollution and an outbreak of diseases.
On the issue of relocating the bins from the terminus entrance, the council spokesperson said, the
local authority will find a suitable site to place their bins to allow free flow of business at the
terminus.