GWERU – Council has admitted that it lacks capacity to collect refuse across the city owing to broken down waste removal vehicles and will soon outsource the service to private companies, TellZim News has learnt.
This comes shortly after council announced it was putting back to tender the supply of service delivery vehicles because the company that won the initial bid failed to do the job citing foreign currency shortages.
In a circular drafted after a special council meeting held recently, the city said it will contract private transporters to collect waste.
“Following the challenges experienced in the collection of solid waste due to inadequate refuse compactor trucks and frequent breakdowns due to ageing, the City of Gweru invites interested members of the community owning trucks ranging from 3.5 tonnes to 10 tonnes to submit their bids to the director of health services for consideration and possible hire of their vehicles for solid waste removal,” reads part of the circular.
Residents who spoke to TellZim News, however, were of the opinion that the plan will breed more corruption and patronage.
“No promise given to us residents has ever been fulfilled and all they think about is fattening their pockets. Think of how many of them or close relatives own such trucks? It’s those people who will be given the tenders and none of the plans are meant to serve us,” said a resident.
Learnmore Tafirenyika of Ascot said he expected nothing to improve as all council initiatives in the past have shown to be either ill-conceived or were made to promote self-interest.
 “We have experienced poor service delivery by city council for a long time now and as the people, we have no confidence that their latest plans are well-meant. The people are throwing waste everywhere because they don’t have a choice,” said Tafirenyika.
The council has targeted areas like Woodlands, Ascot, Northleagh, Athlone, Nashville and KMP-Senga for waste collection by the private truckers.local

Lloyd Shunje in Mutare

MUTARE – Council is set to deal with water woes that have affected high density suburbs following a resolution to resume construction of the US$1.1 million Dangamvura water pipeline.
The State Procurement Board (SPB) recently approved continuation of the project which started in 2011 but abruptly came to a halt due to financial constraints.
Speaking to TellZim New, Mayor Tatenda Nhamarare said council was determined to see the project through.
 “We resolved as council to resume the work using internal resources while plans are being made to source more funds from elsewhere.
“The pipeline will link Chikanga and Dangamvura and once the required materials have been acquired, we will then start the project which is set to bring an end to water problems that have affected Dangamvura residents for a long time,” said Nhamarare.
 Residents who spoke to TellZim News said they hoped that the project will be completed quickly to bring an end to their misery.
“It is a good thing that council has taken the stance to put an end to water problems that have affected us as residents. Many people had lost hope that anything will be done to solve the water shortages they have faced all along,” said Ignatius Tivatye of Dangamvura.local

ZVISHAVANE – Two Mberengwa men have appeared before the Zvishavane Magistrates Court for making false witchcraft claims on ZTV.
Sifelani Dube (27) and Soton Dube from Chief Chingoma in Mberengwa appeared before magistrate Archie Wochiunga facing charges of criminal nuisance as defined in section 46 (2) (v) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23.
The duo appeared on ZTV on the October 19, 2017 and made false claims that they practiced witchcraft.
They also claimed that they were in possession of a hyena, an owl, a baboon, a snake and cats that they claimed to use in their witchcraft business and to recover their money from bad debtors.
State prosecutor, Stanley Ncube told the court that they confessed that they made their false statements in order to alarm the nation for the sake of attention and possibly to make money from the mystified public.
He said when investigations were done in the wake of their TV appearance, it was proven that the two were scammers who possessed none of the things they claimed to have and that they actually were not wizards.
Magistarate Wochiunga found them guilty of fraud and interfering with public comfort and peace.
They were both remanded for mental examination and will be sentenced when the results are out.local

CHIREDZI – A Hippo Valley High School pupil took shelter in a sugarcane plot after her parents chased her away from home but nobody knew that those were to be the girl’s last moments alive as she would, some hours later, die of severe burns.
The incident, which happened on October 23, saw the minor being severely burnt before being airlifted to Harare where she died of her excruciating injuries.
Masvingo acting police spokesperson, Assistant Inspector Kudakwashe Dhewa confirmed the case and urged parents to be tolerant as all children have their own flaws.
Sources said Martha Hlupeko, who was doing her form one at Hippo Valley High School and residing in Section 7 Hippo Valley Estates with her mother and stepfather, had quarrelled with her mother because she had arrived home late.
The misunderstanding reportedly started with the girl’s mother, who had been away on a visit, calling to request that Martha wait for her on Section 7A bus stop.
The girl complied but upon noticing that it was getting late, shifted to Section 7B where there was some light and she failed to see her mother arrive in the process.
She then gave up on the wait and went home, only to find that her mother was already there and was angry as she suspected that she had been with her boyfriend.
After being chased from home, Martha went to her boyfriend to consult him on what to do but he could not accommodate her so she decided to take shelter in a nearby cane field for the night.
“She went to her boyfriend who is an employee at Hippo Valley Estate but he could not accommodate her so she took shelter in the plot which was then set on fire early the following morning to prepare the cane for harvesting,” said a source.
Martha was discovered the following morning by Hippo Valley employees who reported the case to the police and the girl was taken to Hippo Valley Hospital before being airlifted to Harare where she died.local

Nyasha Marumbi

MASVINGO – Only two percent of households in Masvingo are still using the old electricity meters and are yet to be connected using the recommended prepaid meters, the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Commission (ZETDC) says.
At a workshop organised by the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (Zera) and the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) recently, ZETDC commercial manager for Manicaland and Masvingo provinces, Fabion Mabaya said 98 percent of all households in Masvingo were using prepaid meters.
He said the remaining two percent will have their own prepaid meters before the end of next year.
“Out of 36 000 houses that we have in Masvingo, only 700 have no prepaid meters and I promise you before the end of next year, prepaid meters will have been installed in those houses.
He urged residents to save electricity by using energy server lamps as the country has to raise foreign currency to import supplementary energy from neighbouring countries.
He also said the country had saved 110 megawatts of electricity since the introduction of prepaid electricity meters in 2011.local