Silikombola hopes people will book the venue for private birthday parties and community meetings by community-based organisations.
She recalls that the dump site used to be a recreational park when “we were growing up in the 1960’s”, but had been neglected for over 40 years.
Last year she read that young girls from her neighbourhood were being raped in places similar to the dump site and came up with the idea of mobilising the community to clear and transform the area before similar crimes were committed closer to home.
Hub for thieves
“These areas are a hub for thieves as there is a lot of garbage and it just continues to accumulate. The garbage had literally grown into mountains that harbour thieves. It is also a breeding ground for mosquitoes because of the humidity created by the refuse and has become a health time bomb,” she explained.
In July 2014, the group approached the Harare City Council requesting permission to adopt the dump site. “It was not an easy task to get permission, but thankfully a local councillor gave us her support after we approached her with our genuine concerns about the place being a the potential health hazard and the need to protect the community from thieves and rapists. In November 2014 we received written permission to manage the area as a community,” said Silikombola.
The community mobilised their own resources to clear the garbage and were assisted by the council with trucks to ferry it away from the site.
“When clearing the site, we did clash with members of a certain church group who worshipped at the dump site. This was a bit of a setback, but the issue was resolved by the governor who advised the church that we had the necessary, legal papers for the land. It also counted in our favour that the church group had never attempted to clean the area where they worshipped,” said Silikombola.
Help from Oxfam
This enterprising group of women got financial assistance from Oxfam to fence the property and drill a borehole. They are now in the process of erecting some swings.
“I need to clarify that the land is not owned by a single person, but by the whole community. It still remains state owned land. We also requested assistance from the National Parks and they have undertaken to plant flowers and look after the environment of the area,” said Silikombola.
Gladys Muchineripi, one of the community members, sees the entire Mbare National community benefiting from this development.
“We have a problem in that there are no spaces where children can safely play. The establishment of this play centre is going to change the lives of our children who have never had any facilities. We will also generate some income through hiring the place out to people for private birthday parties and even road shows for community based organizations that want to hold events here,” she said.
Anti-litter campaign
The council recently introduced a community litter monitoring programme in which it encourages residents to take charge of their own environment.
Michael Chideme, the local authority’s spokesperson, said the Mbare National community development project was one of the fruits of the anti-litter campaign. “This is what we have been encouraging communities to do and we hope that others will learn from the development happening in Mbare National. There is a lot of underutilised land in Harare that communities can apply to take over and use for their own benefit. The council is awaiting their applications,” he said. The Harare city council is under fire from residents’ pressure groups who complain that the city fathers are sleeping on duty. They say the local authority should not demand rates payments from residents because they are not delivering a service.
Simbarashe Moyo of the Combined Harare Residents Trust said; “Residents should realise that they also have a responsibility for cleaning their own communities and should not wait for the local authorities to collect the garbage that they themselves dump. We want to applaud the Mbare National community for setting a fine example.”
Post published in: Gender Equality