…as council discharges raw sewage into incomplete Mucheke Trunk Sewer
Melinda Kusemachibi
Residents in Masvingo are reportedly living in fear of a possible disease outbreak after Masvingo City Council reportedly discharged raw sewage into the long awaited and incomplete Mucheke Trunk Sewer which is now more than 10 years old since its construction started.
The raw sewage is flowing into Mucheke River at the foot path that crosses the river on the way to Rujeko A high density suburb, with volumes of sewer making their way into the already polluted river at a connection point where the trunk sewer contractors joined with metal pipes.
When TellZim News crew visited the area, they caught up with one resident who expressed shock at such a move by the local authority and blamed the city fathers for neglecting welfare of residents in case of a disease outbreak arising.
“What is happening here is bad. How can council discharge raw sewerage into a natural water body like a river? These people at Town House are not serious at all. How can they neglect the welfare of ratepayers who part ways with their hard earned cash when they pay their rates? They only prioritize the purchase of luxurious vehicles for their top management at the expense of our health.
“Discharging sewerage into an incomplete sewer system shows lack of seriousness on their part. I challenge you to bring responsible engineers to visit these places and explain why they do such things,” said the resident.
Contacted for comment Masvingo Town Clerk Engineer Edward Mukaratirwa said he was busy before asking the reporter to contact him after two hours after which his mobile phone went unanswered.
“Please can you contact me after two hours because right now I am busy? Call me later,” said Mukaratirwa.
Environmental Management Authority (EMA) Provincial Manager Milton Muusha said his team is looking at the issue.
“The discharge has since been attended to. I have asked my officer who was on the ground with council to rectify the problem to compile a short report which I will share with you tomorrow (May 11),” said Muusha.
In the 2019 Auditor General Mildred Chiri’s report on local authorities rapped Masvingo city council for contaminating water bodies through disposal of raw sewage into Mucheke and Shagashe rivers that feed into Lake Mutirikwi, Masvingo’s main water source.
Completion of the ‘legacy project’ has remained a headache for the local authority after its construction began after over a decade ago.
In 2012, City of Masvingo advertised a tender to construct the Mucheke Trunk Sewer, a pipeline running roughly parallel to Mucheke River and planned to link with the sewer plant in Eastvale.
Covering a stretch of 7km, the new sewer trunk is meant to extend to the fairly new and sprawling Victoria Ranch suburb just outside Masvingo.
Initially Harare-based Mutual Construction (Pvt) Ltd was awarded the tender after beating at least 10 other bidders and council fixed a US$2,1 million loan from the National Social Security Authority (NSSA) to fund the project.
As at March, 3 2021 checks have however revealed that Mutual Construction was not among the 108 professional firms listed on the Engineering Council of Zimbabwe (ECZ) website.
Project development kicked off in 2012 and was supposed to be completed within a year, but work stopped in early 2013.
Mutual Construction had removed its equipment that remained on the project site by the end of 2014, save for the giant 750-1200mm diameter cement-asbestos pipes purchased from Turnall Holdings.
In 2015, council put out a public notice borrowing a further US$1, 7 million to fund resumption of work on the project. But barely a quarter of the job has been done.
According to a recent report, Masvingo reported an average of 2 812 sewer blockages per year and was blamed for lack of supervision and lack of enforcement of contract agreements by its engineers and staff.
