Forgive Shumba
Vendors have blamed Chiredzi Town Council for failing to end perennial rubbish collection problems at the town‘s main vegetable market saying the developments might trigger another Cholera outbreak.
For a place that was forcibly shut down by health officials during the cholera outbreak of 2008 to 2009, the situation is now deadly as council has gone for months without collecting garbage leaving vendors with no option other than dumping rubbish at illegal sites.
A visit by Tell Zimbabwe reporters to Chiredzi‘s vegetable market popularly known as “Kumagaraji“ revealed that council has forgotten about its duty to collect garbage from this area despite vendors paying money towards service delivery.
One vendor Martha Majarimani said council‘s failure to timely collect garbage at their market has created conditions which favour the breeding of mosquitoes and flies.
“Chiredzi Town Council collects a dollar per day from all vendors‘ so that they improve service delivery but as you can see there is no sign of service delivery. There are no rubbish bins, we are just dumping our rotten vegetables everywhere and this has created breeding places for mosquitoes and flies,“ said Majarimani.
Givemore Munhamo a Chiredzi resident said the town risks another Cholera outbreak and the council is to blame for that.
“The town council should place bins or find a proper disposal area where vendors can dump rotten produce,“ said Munhamo.
Director for National Vendors Union of Zimbabwe Samuel Wadzai blamed council for neglecting the welfare of vendors despite collecting money from them on a daily bases.
“Vendors have always been subjected to bad treatment in each and every town and as NAVUS we want that corrected. Vendors are paying money to councils on a daily bases but they are getting nothing in return, Look at their working environments, there are no bins to accommodate the garbage despite us being the only source of fresh vegetables in Chiredzi,“ said Wadzai.
Wadzai said vendors will run periodic clean up campaigns at their working places as a measure to control risks associated with operating on dirty area.health
