Fifty-three year old Sekuru Shamba of St Mary’s grows sugar on the banks of the Nyatsime River. He occasionally visits his cane field with a hoe in order to divert water from the sewage pipes on to his plantation.
“I have a lot of children and I don’t have any other means of survival. The police recently threatened me with legal action if they caught me in the act,” he added.
Health officials from the council have strongly discouraged the use of sewage to water crops.
“I admit that the city council is failing to cope up with the sewage facilities due to its fast growing population but the truth should be told that cane farmers are fueling the continued bursting of pipes,” said Talent Munyoro, who works at the Chitungwiza Sewer Department.
Recently, Chitungwiza municipality officials told a parliamentary portfolio committee that they dumped sewage in the Nyatsime and Manyame rivers due to lack of adequate funding to rehabilitate the treatment plant.
Post published in: News