David Machaya, a senior officer with the Epworth Local Board, told a residents meeting recently that the situation was caused by lack of resources on the part of the local authority.
“Residents of the predominately informal settlement resort to pit latrines as the revenue collected by Epworth is too little to develop the infrastructure. Even the new Glenwood Suburb with residential stands measuring 150m2 is using septic tanks, water wells and pit latrines,” Machaya admitted, confirming fears that Epworth was sitting on a health time bomb.
Faced with a local authority reluctant to develop the residential area, residents have resolved to force Epworth Local Board to play ball.
Victor Kamba, founder and coordinator Combined Epworth Residents Trust, told The Zimbabwean that they would soon make the local authority accountable and transparent in its conduct.
“We have realised that without pressure from residents the Local Board will take the suburb down the drain. As residents, we have arranged a stakeholders meeting where the operations of the Local Board will be scrutinised and resolutions made,” Kamba said, threatening legal action if other options fail to bear fruit.
Kamba accused the Local Board of playing partisan politics while corruptly subdividing and selling land. He blasted the proposed $1.3 million 2015 Epworth budget, which he said had no allocation for sewage and water facilities.
According to Kamba, residents were angered by the ‘meaningless budget’, which prioritised the maintenance of the board’s vehicles at the expense of sewer and water infrastructure.
Peter Nyapetwa, secretary of the Epworth Residents Development Committee, suggested that exposing corruption at the Local Board would be the best starting point.
“We are preparing a dossier exposing corruption by officials at the local Board, as a strategy of cleaning the mess out of Epworth,” said Nyapetwa.
Epworth is settlement situated some 12 kilometres South-East of Harare. It was established as a Methodist Mission Station in 1890.
Epworth was not planned as an urban residential area, but the rapid influx of people resulted in the formation of the informal settlement without water supplies and sanitation facilities.
After failing to control the increasing population, the Methodist Church transferred ownership of the farm to the Ministry of Local Government in 1983.
A Local Board was formed in 1986 under the Urban Councils Act, and whose members are elected by the community.
The Board’s responsibilities include managing the area and collecting rates and levies.
Post published in: News