By Virginia Njovo
The High Court in Masvingo has ruled in favor of Masvingo United Residents and Ratepayers Alliance (MURRA) that Masvingo City Council should stop using Runyararo West Dumpsite as it was posing threat to public health.
Last year, Masvingo United Residents and Ratepayers Alliance (MURRA) in collaboration with Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) have taken Masvingo City Council to the High Court over the Runyararo West dumpsite.
In the ruling, the High Court gave Masvingo City Council upto 31 December 2025 to decommission the dumpsite that has become a menace for people in Runyararo West and Victoria Ranch.
“The operation of the Court Order is stayed until December 31 2025 to enable the 1st responded (Masvingo City Council) to cease operations at the Runyararo dumpsite and migrate to the Cambria Farm landfill,” read the judgment.
In their High Court application, MURRA was seeking to bar Masvingo City Council and its workers from disposing waste at the dumpsite located in Runyararo West in terms of the provisions of the High Court Act Section 14 (chapter 7:06)
MURRA argued that due to the continued use of the dumpsite, residents were exposed to an unsafe environment hazardous to their health.
“Due to the continued existence and use of the dumpsite, residents in Runyararo West and in Masvingo in general are being exposed to a filthy and unsafe environment which is hazardous to their health. MURRA and its members, who are residents of Runyararo West, have a clear right in relation to a clean and safe environment.
“Masvingo City Council has been aware of the findings of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) and the recommendations of EMA to migrate from the dumping site system to landfill system since 2012 but it continues to make use of the dumpsite for waste disposal with impunity,” reads the application.
Masvingo City Council secured 10 hectares of land on Cambria Farm which is on the western outskirts of the city for the establishment of the new landfill in 2019 and was set to move there by the end of October the same year.
In September 2024, Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) released a report which revealed that council was violating environmental human rights and the right to administrative justice, years after the old dumpsite became cause for concern.
In October Women Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) petitioned Council over the same issue and its effects to the nearby residents.
After the receiving the petition council promised to act and resolved to deploy municipal police to guard the landfill against plastic and steel scavengers who often set the dumpsite ablaze resulting in smoke. Council also promised to open the Cambria farm dumpsite by end of last year.
In June 2023 Masvingo City invited Vice President Kembo Mohadi to officially open the Cambria landfill which was yet to be completed and up to now.
In October 2022, Acting City Engineer Kudzaishe Mbetu, said council was only left with construction of the site offices which was already underway.
He was quoted saying council was going to start using the landfill at the end of the same month, adding that three boreholes had been drilled but only the control borehole had been equipped but that .
